In most cases, no. Radiation therapy generates molecules called free radicals that kill cancer cells, and oxygen is required in this process. Because many vitamins and supplements include antioxidants, which limit the amount of oxygen in tissue and organs, they could potentially decrease radiation’s effectiveness.
Full Answer
Do you need to worry about being radioactive with radiation therapy?
However, most patients don’t need to worry about being radioactive. External beam radiation therapy is the most common type of treatment, and true to its name, it delivers radiation from a source outside the body.
What happens if you miss a radiation treatment?
“The conclusions are relatively intuitive: If you miss treatment, the outcome is not going to be as good,” said Bhadrasain Vikram, M.D., chief of the Clinical Radiation Oncology Branch in NCI’s Radiation Research Program. “But it’s good to have objective scientific data to confirm that.”
Can I Drive Myself to my radiation treatment?
Unless you feel ill, you can typically drive yourself to treatment. In fact, many patients are able to work full-time during their treatment. When will I start experiencing side effects? Side effects depend on where you receive the radiation therapy, the dose given, whether you also receive chemotherapy and, if so, how much and what type.
Should I have radiation therapy or chemo?
If it’s higher stages and the intention is to cure, then unfortunately radiation plus chemo is a must. I agree, the side effects from radiation are by far, the worst. I also have to say that his friend – while having best of intentions – has not been the best adviser.
What happens if I refuse radiation treatment?
Missed Radiation Therapy Sessions Increase Risk of Cancer Recurrence. Patients who miss radiation therapy sessions during cancer treatment have an increased risk of their disease returning, even if they eventually complete their course of radiation treatment, according to a new study.
What can be done instead of radiation?
Proton therapy is a high-tech alternative to X-ray radiation that offers greater precision to destroy cancerous cells and spare adjacent healthy tissue with fewer side effects. Proton therapy uses positively charged atomic particles, traveling up to two-thirds the speed of light, to fight cancer.
Is radiation therapy necessary?
For some people, radiation may be the only treatment you need. But, most often, you will have radiation therapy with other cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Radiation therapy may be given before, during, or after these other treatments to improve the chances that treatment will work.
Can I skip radiation?
After surgery, some cancer patients can safely skip radiation or chemotherapy, according to two studies exploring shorter, gentler cancer care. Researchers are looking for ways to precisely predict which cancer patients can avoid unneeded treatment to cut down on harmful side effects and unnecessary costs.
Why do oncologists push chemo?
An oncologist may recommend chemotherapy before and/or after another treatment. For example, in a patient with breast cancer, chemotherapy may be used before surgery, to try to shrink the tumor. The same patient may benefit from chemotherapy after surgery to try to destroy remaining cancer cells.
Is radiation worse than chemo?
The radiation beams change the DNA makeup of the tumor, causing it to shrink or die. This type of cancer treatment has fewer side effects than chemotherapy since it only targets one area of the body.
What is the success rate of radiation therapy?
“In fact, based on the literature reviewed, it appears that external-beam radiation therapy is a superior treatment in some cases. “When patients are treated with modern external-beam radiation therapy, the overall cure rate was 93.3% with a metastasis-free survival rate at 5 years of 96.9%.
How does radiation make you feel?
Early and late effects of radiation therapy The most common early side effects are fatigue (feeling tired) and skin changes. Other early side effects usually are related to the area being treated, such as hair loss and mouth problems when radiation treatment is given to this area.
Do tumors grow back after radiation?
Normal cells close to the cancer can also become damaged by radiation, but most recover and go back to working normally. If radiotherapy doesn't kill all of the cancer cells, they will regrow at some point in the future.
Is radiation worth the risk?
Benefits and Effectiveness. Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a highly effective cancer treatment with wide-ranging uses. Radiation therapy leads to cancer cure in many patients (either alone or with other treatments) and relieves symptoms or prolongs survival in more advanced cancers.
Does radiation reduce life span?
They concluded that “Median life expectancy decreased with increasing radiation dose at a rate of about 1·3 years per Gy, but declined more rapidly at high doses.
Can radiation harm your heart?
Radiation can injure the pericardium (the tissue covering the heart), myocardium (the heart muscle itself), the heart valves, coronary arteries and the heart's electrical system. Some of the problems that may develop are: Pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart)