Lung Cancer Radiation Therapy, Treatment & Side Effects
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Video: Lung Cancer Radiation
Lung Cancer RadiationLung Cancer Radiation
Listen to Dr. Oneita Taylor, one of our experienced radiation oncologists, talk about some of the advanced radiation treatments for lung cancer offered in our hospitals.
Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer
The lung cancer team at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) provides a range of radiation therapy options to treat all types of lung cancer. Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy to destroy cancer cells, shrink tumors and provide relief of common lung cancer symptoms.
Typical radiation treatments can be damaging to the lungs. In some cases, it may even make breathing worse than it was before. Our radiation oncologists use advanced lung cancer radiation therapies, like TomoTherapy® and HDR Brachytherapy, to precisely target tumors and minimize damage to healthy tissue and nearby organs, like the heart. We also use radioprotective drugs to help protect healthy tissue from exposure to radiation.
Depending on your lung cancer, your CTCA care team will combine radiation therapy with surgery, chemotherapy and Interventional Pulmonology treatments.
Radiation treatments may be included in your individualized care plan as:
- A primary treatment.
- Before surgery to shrink a tumor.
- After surgery to eliminate any remaining cancer cells.
- To treat cancer that has spread to other areas of the body.
We offer two primary types of radiation therapy for lung cancer:
- External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT): Delivers high doses of radiation to lung cancer cells from outside the body, using a variety of machine-based technologies.
- High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy (Internal Radiation): Delivers high doses of radiation from implants placed close to, or inside, the tumor(s) in the body.
Next Topic: External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) for Lung Cancer
