The Side Effects of Radiation Therapy

Dr. Wollman describes radiation therapy side effects and shares if the side effects from Trilogy™ with RapidArc™ radiation therapy are the same as traditional methods.

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Transcript

The Side Effects of Radiation Therapy Most studies show the side effects are lot less frequent when you use a more precise delivery system like Trilogy with RapidArc than when you use some of the other forms of radiation therapies. So yes, both the short-term side effects and the long-term complications are lower with this technology. All radiation treatments are different. To give radiation to the brain is a very different treatment from giving radiation to the breast, from giving radiation to the pelvis. People tend to think of radiation a little bit before they know a lot about it as chemotherapy. Chemotherapy are drugs that go all throughout the body and generally have widespread systemic symptoms. Radiation is an extremely precise treatment. So it’s almost like asking the question, “What side effects will I have from surgery?” - depends on where the surgery is done. Radiation side effects really depend on where the radiation is done. Many patients experience a small amount of fatigue, but usually it’s not enough to interfere with their work or their activities of daily living. But other than a mild amount of fatigue that comes with the territory there’s no other single side effect that one can say what pertains to all radiation treatments. It’s very site-specific. If we treat the brain, often times you lose hair. If we treat other parts of the body, there’s no hair loss.