Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is a type of treatment for cancer. It kills and slows

down the growth of cancer cells this reduces the size of tumours by
damaging the DNA. Higher doses of radiation and waves with more
energy such a gamma wave will shrink the tumour more than a lower
dose and a wave with less energy such as an alpha wave from a
distance.
Cancer starts when a cell is altered and multiplies out of control this
is how a tumour is created. A tumour is made up of a cluster of
abnormal cells. Most cancers cause tumours, but some tumours
aren't cancerous. Benign or noncancerous tumours do not spread to
other parts of the body or create new tumours.
There are two types of radiotherapy, these are external radiotherapy
and internal radiotherapy. External radiotherapy involves the
radiation coming from a machine outside of the body the radiation is
aimed at the tumour different types of waves are used depending on
how serious or big the tumour is. Internal radiotherapy also known
as brachytherapy is where the radiation comes from radioactive
implants put in or near the tumour. Depending on what type or how
severe the cancer is the implant could be temporary or permanent.
Whilst radiotherapy is good at killing off cells and slowing down the
growth often the tumour comes back as it doesn’t always kill all of
the cells. In the early stages of a growth the success rate is 90% but
as the tumour grows the percentage gets smaller and smaller. To
summarise radiotherapy isn't 100% effective but helps a lot to slow
growths and maybe stop them all together.