Cancer Treatments

Gamma rays is what turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk.

Radiation therapy is one of the many tools used to combat cancers. Radiation treatments utilize high-energy waves such as x-rays to kill cancer cells. It is estimated that radiation is used to treat 60% of all cancers. Radiation can be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments (e.g. chemotherapy and surgery) to cure or stabilize cancer.

Like other therapies, the choice to use radiation to treat a particular cancer depends on a wide range of factors. These include, but are not limited to, the type of cancer, the physical state of the patient, the stage of the cancer, and the location of the tumor.

Benefits

Destroys quickly dividing cells at the margins of tumors. Surgery may miss these cells leading to recurrence of disease.
Can successfully eradicate growth without permanently damaging the adjacent normal tissue. If these tumors can be treated early before metastasis, there is a very high rate of curability.
In conjunction with other treatments, may cure tumors that are not responsive to any single agent.
Radioactive seed implants can deliver high doses of radiation directly to the tumor sparing nearby healthy cells. Less severe side effects than external radiation therapy.
Preoperative radiation therapy can kill tumor cells at margins of the tumor site. It can keep the cancer under control and prevent metastases, and also convert technically inoperable tumors into operable ones.
Postoperative radiation therapy can destroy cancer cells still present around the margins after a tumor has been surgically removed.
Possible Side Effects

Fatigue (in part due to energy expended in replacing normal cells killed in the process)
Skin irritation, redness, lesions, peeling
Hair loss
Loss of taste
Erectile dysfunction
Decreased blood count (may be monitored by the clinician overseeing the treatment)
Increased susceptibility to infection
Difficulty swallowing and decreased appetite
Oral mucositis (increased proliferation of the mouth epithelial cells/ lining)
Younger patients receiving radiotherapy are more likely to develop secondary tumors because of their longer post-treatment life span.
Large tumor masses often contain oxygen-deficient cells in the center that are resistant to radiation therapy and therefore not affected by the therapy.
External Radiation Therapy requires a significant amount of time. The entire process may span 4-5 weeks with treatments given 5 days per week. The actual treatments usually only last a few minutes.
Preoperative radiation therapy can:
(1)obscure the extent of the tumor and interfere with surgery, (2)create anxiety because of the delay until surgery, (3) increase the risk of postoperative complications.

hope this answers it!

Gamma rays are ionising radiation and are extremely dangerous to living tissue, that’s why they are used to kill cancerous growths.

The danger caused by gamma radiation (such as is used in some cancer treatment) is dangerous but it depends on the dose. In fact, its “usefulness” in treating cancer is BECAUSE it is dangerous - the cancer is given a high dose of radiation and the rest of the body a lower level of radiation. This, hopefully, destroys the cancerous cells but leaves the body relatively unharmed.

But, in general, gamma radiation is dangerous but less so than the cancer that it is being used on. If you have any more questions about you might like to discuss them with a doctor, oncologist or radiologist who can give you more specific information on the type of cancer you’re talking about.