Principles of radiation therapy
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Janusz Winiecki
Abstract
Introduction
Radiotherapy is one of the basic methods of cancer treatment. Tens of millions of people around the world are exposed to ionizing radiation each year in the hope that it will help fight the disease or slow down its progress. Radiotherapy owes its success mainly to important discoveries in the field of physics, which allowed to understand the essence of the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, in particular living matter.
Materials
The following study explains which types of radiation have the ability to ionize matter. The difference between the interaction of electrically charged particles and neutral particles was explained. The author briefly described methods of delivering radiation to diseased tissues and how adjacent tissues are protected. The most important physical quantities describing the quality and dose of the delivered radiation were introduced.
Conclusions
Safe use of radiotherapy as one of the methods of oncological treatment requires proficient knowledge of the basics of radiobiology and the physics of nuclear interactions. The study describes the most important steps in the preparation and implementation of radiotherapy, but it is not sufficient to fully understand this method. However, it provides an opportunity to be familiar with the issue in general.
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Author contribution: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
References
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Symmetry aspects in the macroscopic dynamics of magnetorheological gels and general liquid crystalline magnetic elastomers
- Studies about the design of magnetic bionanocomposite
- Advanced cell culture techniques for cancer research
- Magnetic Hybrid-Materials (Odenbach)
- Magnetic hybrid materials interact with biological matrices
- Reviews
- Principles of radiation therapy
- Modeling and theoretical description of magnetic hybrid materials—bridging from meso- to macro-scales
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Symmetry aspects in the macroscopic dynamics of magnetorheological gels and general liquid crystalline magnetic elastomers
- Studies about the design of magnetic bionanocomposite
- Advanced cell culture techniques for cancer research
- Magnetic Hybrid-Materials (Odenbach)
- Magnetic hybrid materials interact with biological matrices
- Reviews
- Principles of radiation therapy
- Modeling and theoretical description of magnetic hybrid materials—bridging from meso- to macro-scales
