Cancer affects around 5 million + people every year across the world. Cancer has always been a major worldwide health concern. The mankind has evolved various treatment options that can maximize a person’s chance of recovery and preserve their quality of life.
A cancer treatment that is proven to be safe and highly effective but is often misunderstood is Radiotherapy. Commonly understood as Radiation Therapy. This technology uses different types of high-energy radiations to damage or kill cancer cells so that they cannot reproduce. It is a lower cost alternative to other cancer treatments.
Besides the benefits that Radiotherapy has given, there are still many misconceptions and fears surrounding this life-saving treatment. The most common of them with the facts behind them are:-
Is radiotherapy a safe treatment option?
Radiotherapy has been there since early 1900. Technological advancement and highly sophisticated hardware and software have made this form of treatment extremely effective.
Doctors today can with precision target the affecting tumor, their direction, growth, effect and related factors. All of it helps them to carefully measure and precisely deliver radiation to the tumor and minimizing exposure of healthy tissues and related side-effects.
When is radiotherapy used?
Radiotherapy can be an effectively used as a front-line cancer treatment. But it is never thought that way. Doctors often refer their patients to a radiation oncologist as a last option for cancer treatment, whereas Radiation Therapy can actually be used as a curative treatment in place of or as a combination with surgery or chemotherapy.
Who has access to radiotherapy?
It has been laid that by 2035, 12 million patients worldwide will be in need of radiation therapy, but many of them will not have access to it. The reason of being this form of cancer treatment is not readily available across the globe. It’s only 40-60 % cancer patients who can get this treatment. Factors like shortages of equipment, trained staff and facilities, distant and rural areas have contributed to this problem.
How can we increase radiotherapy access worldwide?
It has to be accepted and understood that, both, the patient and his life will have remarkable benefits from the therapy. We as aware individuals need to continually advocate for policies that recognize the clinical and economic benefits of radiotherapy. Doctors and acquaintances need to be enabling more people to be aware of cancer treatment options and the role of radiation therapy.
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