Advances in Radiation Therapy
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X-rays were first used to treat cancer in the late 1890s. Now, radiation therapy is a standard treatment for cancer and its symptoms.
Nancy Daly is director of government relations for the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology. She says that about 60 to 70 percent of patients are treated with radiation therapy at some point during their cancer care.
Seven out of every 10 of those patients are being treated for cure. Dr. Norman Coleman says many patients can be cured with radiation. Coleman is with the Radiation Oncology Science Program at the National Cancer Institute. Whether radiation can cure cancer depends on the stage of the cancer. The 30 percent who aren’t being treated for cure, Coleman says, are having palliative treatment. That’s treatment meant to relieve pain and manage other symptoms.
