Although radiotherapy is a major and
often effective modality in treating cancer patients, it can inflict serious
damage on healthy tissues/organs. Because radiotherapy utilizes high energy
radiation to kill cancer cells, injury to normal organ is almost inevitable. For
example, the acute side
effects of radiotherapy can occur on any surrounding normal tissues be it skin,
brain or lung.
Fortunately, many of the side effects caused by radiotherapy are reversible, but some may not become apparent until months or even years later, such as secondary tumor formation. Fortunately, modern technologies in radiotherapy can significantly reduce the radiation exposure of normal tissues and reduce the side effects thereof.
In
general, the side effects of radiotherapy can be summarized in the following four categories:
1. Damage
to the DNA of normal cells
2. Damage
to cell renewal
3. Activation of
immunologic responses
4. Other side effects of radiotherapy
