Answer:
False
Explanation:
Radiation therapy uses high-power x-rays, particles or radioactive seeds to destroy cancer cells.
Radiation therapy is used to fight many types of cancer. Sometimes, it is the only treatment necessary. It can also be used in combination with other therapies such as surgery or chemotherapy, to:
- Reduce the size of a tumor as much as possible before surgery
- Help prevent cancer from coming back after surgery or chemotherapy
- Relieve symptoms caused by a tumor such as pain, pressure or bleeding
- Treat cancers that cannot be removed with surgery
Approximately six out of ten people with tumor diseases receive radiotherapy, at some time during the course of the disease, as an important part of their cancer treatment, either as an exclusive therapy or associated with other modalities such as surgery or chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy treatment is always individualized, that is, each patient will have their specific treatment, different from that of another patient.
Before starting the treatment itself, it is necessary to simulate it with the objective of determining a series of parameters that will vary depending on the type, location and extent of the tumor, as well as those of the characteristics of each sick.
First of all, it is necessary to determine which position is most suitable for carrying out the treatment. Once defined, the patient is immobilized using different materials, which will allow the reproduction of this position every day during the treatment.
Next, with the immobilized patient, a planning CT (CT scan or scanner) is performed that will serve the radiation oncologist to determine and locate the volume to be treated and healthy structures that can be protected from radiation.
In this process, reference marks are made on the skin, in order to reproduce the same conditions during the treatment.
Although this process can be long and heavy, it does not include any procedure or maneuver that can be painful.
Once the treatment area has been located, planning is carried out, which consists in determining the dose and the way of administering the radiation. The choice of the best treatment plan for each patient is evaluated jointly by the radiation oncologist and the radiophysicists who are responsible for determining the distribution of the dose previously prescribed by the doctor.
In the next phase, called commissioning, the previous two stages (simulation and planning) are verified. The treatment is carried out in the same room where the actual treatment will be carried out. To verify the different data it is necessary to make, through some radiographic system, a plate that serves to verify the correct administration of the treatment.
This process is performed several times during radiation treatment.
