Chemotherapy and Radiation

Radiation Therapy

In radiation therapy, energy rays like x-rays or gamma rays and particles (electrons and neutrons) are used to eradicate rapidly growing cancer cells. In this therapy, external beam focuses on the cancer part of the body. Radiation therapy is mostly used to treat laryngeal as well as hypo pharyngeal cancer. Radiation chemotherapy is given daily for seven weeks. Generally it is given five days per week. Other schedules for radiation doses have been under trial.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy is used as primary treatment to treat laryngeal and hypo pharyngeal cancer. Radiation therapy can be also used as adjuvant treatment after surgery.

Radiation is divided into no of doses, known as hyper fractionation. Some time two doses are given per day instead of one. In accelerated fractionation, radiation therapy is completed within five weeks (instead of seven weeks). Such accelerated fractionation and hyper fractionation minimize the risks of cancer recurrence. However these therapies also increase the sternness of side effects and fail to improve survival rates.

Radiation chemotherapy is associated with side effects which include skin problems, sore throat, dry mouth, decrease in taste, swallowing difficulty, tiredness, and breathing problems. These side effects are temporary and go away in some time.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment. In chemotherapy treatment, anticancer drugs are administered in the body. These drugs reach all parts of body via blood stream. Chemotherapy is used to treat various cancer including head and neck cancer.

Recently chemotherapy is used along with radiation therapy to treat advanced staged head and neck cancer. Chemotherapy drugs attack cancer cells and prohibit them from growing. Usually, combination of two or more drugs is used.

Chemotherapy treatment has some side effects associated with it. Some of the side effects of chemotherapy are fatigue, nausea, hair loss, tiredness and low blood counts. These side effects are temporary in nature and disappear after some time.