Side Effects Of Brain Tumor Radiation Therapy

Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated.
Side effects of brain tumor radiation therapy. Sometimes the whole brain is treated with radiation although the doses are often lower. There are two main types of radiation therapy used at the comprehensive brain tumor center to treat metastatic brain tumors. High doses of radiation therapy to the brain are more likely to cause long term problems. This treatment can cause side.
So the treatment tends to have fewer or milder side effects than regular radiotherapy to the brain. Radiation therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells. Cancer that spreads to the brain is usually treated with radiosurgery highly focused radiation with a tool such as the gamma knife followed by less intense radiation to the whole brain. The radiation used to destroy cancer cells can also hurt normal cells in the area that is radiated.
In children the younger the child the more sensitive the brain cells are to the side effects of radiation. Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high energy waves to kill tumor cells. Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue. Side effects depend on where the radiation is aimed.
The term radiation therapy most often refers to external beam radiation therapy. Side effects are caused by the cumulative effect of radiation on the cells. Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells.
Side effects from radiation treatment can vary depending on the area of the body being treated. Specific side effects of radiation therapy that affect parts of the body if you re getting radiation therapy to the brain. A patch of. Side effects of radiation therapy to the brain may include.
Common side effects include fatigue hair loss and memory problems. People with brain tumors often get stereotactic radiosurgery radiation given in one large dose if the cancer is in only one or a few sites in the brain. It targets the radiation very precisely at the tumour which means that the tumour receives a high dose of radiation and the tissues around it receive a much lower dose.