Radiation Therapy

Definition: Radiation Therapy

Radiation Therapy

Noun

1. The treatment of disease (especially cancer) by exposure to radiation from a radioactive substance.

Specialty Definitions: Radiation Therapy

Domain	Definitions
Health	The use of high-energy radiation from x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, and other sources to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external-beam radiation therapy), or it may come from radioactive material placed in the body in the area near cancer cells (internal radiation therapy, implant radiation, or brachytherapy). Systemic radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance, such as a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody, that circulates throughout the body. Also called radiotherapy. (references)
Medicine	Treatment of disease with any type of ionizing radiation. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Radiation therapy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis). Although radiotherapy is often used as part of curative therapy, it is occasionally used as a palliative treatment, where cure is not possible and the aim is for symptomatic relief.

Radiotherapy is commonly used for the treatment of tumours. It may be used as the primary therapy. It is also common to combine radiotherapy with surgery and/or chemotherapy. The most common tumours treated with radiotherapy are breast cancer, prostate cancer, rectal cancer, head & neck cancers, gynaecological tumours, bladder cancer and lymphoma.

Radiation therapy is commonly applied just to the localised area involved with the tumour. Often the radiation fields also include the draining lymph nodes. It is possible but uncommon to give radiotherapy to the whole body, or entire skin surface.

Although the actual treatment is painless, using radiation to tackle tumours inevitably leads to side effects. The side effects can occur during treatment (acute side effects such as soreness and redness over the affected area; nausea and vomiting) or long after treatment has finished (late side effects reflecting permanent organ damage).

Radiation therapy is usually given daily for up to 35-38 fractions (a daily dose is a fraction). These small frequent doses allow healthy cells time to grow back, repairing damage inflicted by the radiation. Tumours don't repair the radiation damage as well.

Three main divisions of radiotherapy are external beam radiotherapy or teletherapy, brachytherapy or sealed source radiotherapy and unsealed source radiotherapy. The differences relate to the position of the radiation source; external is outside the body, while sealed & unsealed source radiotherapy has radioactive material delivered internally. Brachytherapy sealed sources are usually extracted later, while unsealed sources are injected into the body.

Further information:

http://www.rtog.org/ - The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group

See also: Cancer -- Chemotherapy

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Radiation therapy."

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Synonyms: Radiation Therapy

Synonyms: actinotherapy (n), irradiation (n), radiotherapy (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Radiation Therapy

English words defined with "radiation therapy": agranulocytosis, agranulosis ♦ cesium 137, cobalt 60, Curietherapy ♦ granulocytopenia ♦ radiopharmaceutical, radium therapy. (references)

Specialty definitions using "radiation therapy": 3-dimensional ♦ adjuvant therapy ♦ Biafine cream, BLOCK MAKER ♦ carbogen, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant, CNS prophylaxis, customised block ♦ donepezil ♦ Etanidazole, external radiation, external-beam radiation ♦ gamma irradiation, gamma knife ♦ hyperbaric oxygen, hyperfractionation ♦ internal radiation, intraoperative radiation therapy, intraperitoneal radiation therapy, IORT ♦ Neoadjuvant Therapy ♦ ovarian ablation ♦ pentosan polysulfate, prophylactic cranial irradiation ♦ radiation fibrosis, radiation surgery, Radiation-Protective Agents, Radiation-Sensitizing Agents, RADIATION-THERAPY TECHNOLOGIST, Radioimmunotherapy, radiosensitization, RSR13 ♦ Salvage Therapy, somnolence syndrome ♦ tirapazamine, total estrogen blockade, total nodal irradiation, total-body irradiation ♦ ultraviolet radiation therapy, umbilical cord blood transplantation. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Radiation Therapy

Domain	Title
Books	ICRP Publication 86: Prevention of Accidents to Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy (reference) Managing the Side Effects of Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy (reference) Radiation Therapy for Head and Neck Neoplasms, 3rd Edition (reference) The Chemotherapy & Radiation Therapy Survival Guide (Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy Survivor's Guide, 2nd Ed) (reference) Clinical Applications of Continuous Infusion Chemotherapy and Concomitant Radiation Therapy (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Radiation Therapy "What to Expect" (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Radiation Therapy

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Radiation Therapy Dept. / Photography by Rockfield Moss Studio inc.Credit: National Library of Medicine.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Radiation Therapy

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Drugs to improve radiation therapy. (references)
		This is called internal radiation therapy. (references)
		Fatigue is common during radiation therapy. (references)
Business		For the purpose of this report, a special focus is set on high-end diagnostic and radiation therapy cancer-related equipment. (references)
		This report reviews the imaging and non-invasive diagnostic equipment subsector, which for the purpose of this analysis, comprises radiology, computerized tomography, nuclear medicine, ecography, MRI, radiation therapy and bone densitometry. (references)
Economic History	Turkey	New capital-intensive medical technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and megavolt radiation therapy will continue to be purchased by Turkish hospitals. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Expressions: Radiation Therapy

Expressions using "radiation therapy": intraoperative radiation therapy ♦ intraperitoneal radiation therapy ♦ ultraviolet radiation therapy. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Radiation Therapy

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
radiation therapy	397
radiation therapy job	31
radiation therapy side effects	27
program radiation therapy	19
radiation therapy for breast cancer	17
cancer radiation therapy	16
intensity modulated radiation therapy	12
prostate cancer radiation therapy	10
radiation therapy oncology group	9
beam external radiation therapy	8
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Radiation Therapy

Language		Translations for "radiation therapy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		strålebehandling med radioaktiv kobolt (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

Dutch		radiokobalttherapie (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

Finnish		kobolttihoito (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

French		thérapie par rayonnement (radiotherapy). (various references)

German		Kobalttherapie (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

Greek		κοβαλτιοθεραπεία (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

Hungarian		sugárkezelés (irradiation, radiation treatment, radiotherapy). (various references)

Italian		cobaltoterapia (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�"�射線療法 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ほうしゃせ�"りょうほう. (various references)

Pig Latin		adiationray erapythay.(various references)

Spanish		cobaltoterapia (cobalt radiation therapy), cobalterapia (cobalt radiation therapy). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: Radiation Therapy

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-a-d-e-h-i-i-n-o-p-r-r-t-t-y"
	-3 letters: antiapartheid.
	-4 letters: antipredator, radiotherapy, repatriation, traditionary.
	-5 letters: antithyroid, antityphoid, diaphaneity, parathyroid, partitioned, partitioner, petitionary, rehydration, repartition, reradiation, retardation, retinopathy, trepidation.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.