Describe the two general ways radiation is currently used to treat cancer.?
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Two? There are many, but the two general categories are beam radiation and seeds (brachytherapy). Beam radation means that a radiation source external to the body is aimed at the location of the cancer. This differs from seeding, which involves implanting tiny bits of radioactive material directly into the tumor.Within these two categories, there are many alternatives, such as proton beam, IMRT, etc.
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There is this new technology called a "gamma knife."  It is used to kill tumors in the brain.  It consists of 201 gamma rays, almost harmless in and of themselves, targeting a particular area in the brain and meeting there.  It kills that section of the brain instantly.  \n\nIt is completely non-invasive since it is a different kind of radiation therapy.  They have to strap your head down and stick you in something like an MRI - this is so you don't move your head during the process and they accidentally "zap" a different part of your brain.  It is optional whether you want to be asleep during it or awake.
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MRI:\n\n\nAn MRI (or magnetic resonance imaging or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) scan is a radiology technique which uses magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce images of body structures. These images can detect the difference between normal and diseased tissue.\n\nMRI makes better images of organs and soft tissue than other scanning techniques, such as CT or x-ray. Breast MRI is excellent at imaging breasts with implants. MRI is also useful for staging breast cancer, determining the most appropriate treatment, and for patient follow-up after breast cancer treatment. MRI is especially useful for imaging the brain, spine, the soft tissue of joints, and the inside of bones.\n\nXray:Chest x-ray (also known as Chest Radiography) is done for the evaluation of the lungs, heart and chest wall. IBC patients will have chest x-rays to determine their Staging and their ability to receive certain chemotherapy agents like Adriamycin which can be damaging to the heart.\nRadiography involves exposing a part of the body to a small dose of radiation to produce an image of the internal organs. When x-rays penetrate the body, they are absorbed in varying amounts by different parts of the anatomy. The ribs and spine, for example, absorb much of the radiation and appear white or light gray on the image. Lung tissue absorbs little radiation and appears dark on the image. Depending upon the type of image-recording medium, chest x-rays can be maintained as hard copy film for filing or as filmless digital images that are archived electronically.
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7. What are the treatment options for bone cancer?\n\nTreatment options depend on the type, size, location, and stage of the cancer, as well as the persons age and general health. Surgery is often the primary treatment. Although amputation of a limb is sometimes necessary, pre- or post-operative chemotherapy has made limb-sparing surgery possible in many cases. When appropriate, surgeons avoid amputation by removing only the cancerous section of the bone and replacing it with an artificial device called a prosthesis.\nChemotherapy and radiation may also be used alone or in combination. Because of the tendency for Ewings sarcoma to metastasize rapidly, multidrug chemotherapy is often used, in addition to radiation therapy or surgery on the primary tumor.\n\n\n8. Are new treatments being studied?\n\nTo develop new, more effective treatments, the National Cancer Institute is sponsoring clinical trials (treatment studies with cancer patients) in many hospitals and cancer centers around the country. Clinical trials are a critical step in the development of new methods of treatment. Before any new treatment can be recommended for general use, doctors conduct clinical trials to find out whether the treatment is safe for patients and effective against the disease. Various forms of cancer treatments using surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy for bone cancer are being tested in clinical trials.\nPatients who are interested in learning more about participating in clinical trials can call the Cancer Information Service or access the clinical trials page of the National Cancer Institutes Web site at Http: //cancer.gov/clinical_trials on the Internet.
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Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis. Metastasis is defined as the stage in which cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system. Cancer may affect people at all ages, but risk increases with age. It is one of the leading causes of death in developed countries.\n\nThere are many types of cancer. Severity of symptoms depends on the site and character of the malignancy and whether there is metastasis. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of tissue by a pathologist. This tissue is obtained by biopsy or surgery. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for the type of cancer pathology. Drugs that target specific cancers already exist for several cancers. If untreated, cancers may eventually cause illness and death, though this is not always the case.\n\nThe unregulated growth that characterizes cancer is caused by damage to DNA, resulting in mutations to genes that encode for proteins controlling cell division. Many mutation events may be required to transform a normal cell into a malignant cell. These mutations can be caused by chemicals or physical agents called carcinogens, by close exposure to radioactive materials, or by certain viruses that can insert their DNA into the human genome. Mutations occur spontaneously, or are passed down generations as a result of germ line mutations.\n\nMany forms of cancer are associated with exposure to environmental factors such as tobacco smoke, radiation, alcohol and certain viruses. While some of these can be avoided, there is no known way to entirely avoid the disease, and public health and vaccination programs are also important on a global scale.\n\n\nI hope you find what your looking for.\n\nGood Luck!\n\n=)
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Not directly, but the chemo and radiation therapy which treats it can!...;
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Yes, the radiation from cancer treatments is very dangerous, but the radiation is directed in such a way that is that it will be more damaging to the cancer cells than to healthy cells.
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See:\nhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000621.htm#Treatment
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Chemotherapy uses anticancer medications that are either given intravenously or taken by mouth (orally).\nThese drugs enter the bloodstream and travel to all parts of the body, killing cancer cells that have spread to different organs. Chemotherapy is used as the primary treatment for cancers that have spread beyond the lung and cannot be removed by surgery. It also can be used in addition to surgery or radiation therapy.\nChemotherapy is tailored to each patient’s needs. Most patients are given a combination of several different rugs. Besides killing the cancer cells, these drugs also harm normal cells. Hence, the dose has to be carefully adjusted to minimize damage to normal cells. Chemotherapy often has severe side effects, including nausea, vomiting, hair loss, anemia, weakening of the immune system, and sometimes infertility. Most of these side effects end when the treatment is over. Other medications can be given to lessen the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.
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Beta\n\nBeta radiation
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Small cell and non-small cell lung cancer can both be treated with chemotherapy.
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In this situation, marrow is systemic, so radiation therapy is not the way to go.  Chemotherapy is the way to go for systemic cancers, metastases, etc... Irradiation is best used for localized tumors, in which the tumor area can be "walled off" with lead shielding and the tumor can be directly irradiated w/o affecting the surrounding healthy tissues.
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Not currently, however there are treatments and preventative measures. \n\nA cure means you will be completely absolved of the problem forever.  \n\nA treatment is a management. Like chemo can rid a person of cancer for awhile but there's still a chance it will come back. \n\nCancer happens on a cellular level so it's going to be a tough one to find a 'cure' for.  \n\n(Quoted)\nCancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or other methods. The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient (performance status). A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under development.\n\nComplete removal of the cancer without damage to the rest of the body is the goal of treatment. Sometimes this can be accomplished by surgery, but the propensity of cancers to invade adjacent tissue or to spread to distant sites by microscopic metastasis often limits its effectiveness. The effectiveness of chemotherapy is often limited by toxicity to other tissues in the body. Radiation can also cause damage to normal tissue.\n\nBecause "cancer" refers to a class of diseases, it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases
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Uses\nRadionuclides are used in two major ways: for their chemical properties and as sources of radiation.\n\nRadionuclides of familiar elements such as carbon can serve as tracers because they are chemically very similar to the non-radioactive nuclides, so most chemical, biological, and ecological processes treat them in a near identical way. One can then examine the result with a radiation detector, such as a geiger counter, to determine where the provided atoms ended up. For example, one might culture plants in an environment in which the carbon dioxide contained radioactive carbon; then the parts of the plant that had laid down atmospheric carbon would be radioactive.\n\nIn medicine, radioisotopes are used for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emitting gamma rays that can provide diagnostic information about a person's internal anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. This is used in some forms of tomography single emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography scanning. Radioisotopes are also a promising method of treatment in hemopoietic forms of tumors, while the success for treatment of a solid tumors has been limited so far. More powerful gamma sources are used to sterilise syringes and other medical equipment. About one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.\n\nIn biochemistry and genetics, radionuclides are used to label molecules and allow tracing chemical and physiological processes occurring in living organisms, such as DNA replication or amino acid transport.\n\nIn food preservation, radiation is used to stop the sprouting of root crops after harvesting, to kill parasites and pests, and to control the ripening of stored fruit and vegetables.\n\nIn agriculture and animal husbandry, radionuclides also play an important role. They are used to produce high intake of crops, disease and weather resistant varieties of crops, to study how fertilisers and insecticides work, and to improve the production and health of domestic animals.\n\nIndustrially, and in mining, radionuclides are used to examine welds, to detect leaks, to study the rate of wear of metals, and for on-stream analysis of a wide range of minerals and fuels.\n\nMost household smoke detectors contain the radionuclide americium formed in nuclear reactors, saving many lives.\n\nEnvironmentally, radionuclides are used to trace and analyse pollutants, to study the movement of surface water, and to measure water runoffs from rain and snow, as well as the flow rates of streams and rivers.\n\nNatural radionuclides can be used in archaeology and in paleontology to measure ages. When radioactive carbon, for example, is in the atmosphere, it rapidly becomes separated from its decay products. Once it is bound up in a solid, such as wood or paper, its decay products must remain in place. So by measuring how much of these decay products has accumulated, one can estimate the time when the carbon was captured into solid form.
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Depends on what kind of treatment you are referring to, and the type and extent of cancer involved.
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Irradiate it with gamma rays.
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X-rays are useful because they let you see the inside without SURGERY. Too much can cause changes in your DNA, which could cause cancer.