Addition oncology is the medical science that investigates the effects of treatment procedures using ionizing radiation on cancer cells. Applications in radiation oncology clinics are examined under two different groups as radiosurgery and radiotherapy. Treatment procedures in both groups are carried out using radiation. The type of treatment plan to be implemented in the patient is determined after detailed examinations and diagnostic tests by multidisciplinary teams consisting of specialist physicians and healthcare professionals. Radiotherapy is needed at any stage of treatment in 70 percent of all cancer patients. The radiotherapy method can be applied alone or with chemotherapy before or after surgery.
What is Radiotherapy and How Does it Work?
Radiotherapy, also known as radiation therapy, is a treatment technique that has been used for many years in cancer treatment. Approximately three-quarters of all patients diagnosed with cancer receive radiotherapy at least once in any part of the treatment. Radiation therapy, which is an application that enables the treatment of tissues made up of cancer cells and in some cases benign tumors with radiation rays, causes the formation of damage here by targeting the nucleus of cancerous cells. Cells whose nuclei are damaged to lose their ability to grow and cancer disease is treated or controlled in this way. In radiotherapy, in addition to cancer cells, healthy cells, albeit in small amounts, are also damaged. This is one of the factors that play a role in the emergence of undesirable side effects. However, since healthy cells have more advanced repair mechanisms than cancer cells, they can reproduce after treatment and restore their former health.
In radiotherapy procedures applied in radiation oncology clinics, PET / CT method should be used to determine the condition and spread of the disease in the pretreatment process and to investigate the success of radiotherapy during treatment. With PET / CT, a medical imaging method, metabolic changes from diseases are examined using radioactive components. Thanks to this imaging method, which provides very detailed information, structural and functional changes in the body are evaluated and the most appropriate treatment approach is determined.