Radiation Therapy Benefits and Effectiveness

For many people with cancer radiation therapy leads to cure, either alone or with other treatments. For people with advanced cancer, it can be used to help symptoms and improve quality of life.

Radiation therapy is a highly targeted treatment, which allows radiation oncologists to kill cancer cells while protecting healthy body parts. Treating teams can use radiation therapy in nearly every cancer type.

For many common cancers, such as breast cancer, bowel cancer, uterine cancer, skin cancers and prostate cancer, radiation therapy is highly effective in reducing the risk of cancer recurrence if delivered either before or after surgery. In some cancers, for example prostate, head and neck, bladder, lung, cervical and skin cancers, radiation therapy, with or without drug therapy, can be used as the main treatment and avoids the need for doctors to operate and remove organs.

For some advanced cancers, radiation therapy is very effective for pain and other problems caused by cancer, such as bleeding from the lung or bladder. For example, pain in the bones from the spread of cancer can be improved and sometimes removed in around 75% of patients.

Advances in radiation therapy have made life better for people with cancer by making radiation therapy quicker, and more accurate, which has significantly reduced side effects.