Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer
By Michael Russell
Most breast cancer patients wonder why radiation is necessary if a breast cancer has been removed. Despite local removal of the cancer tissue, about 30% of women will have a relapse without radiotherapy. Pathologists often have difficulty determining if there is a clear margin of normal tissue surrounding the cancer, given the difficulty of measuring of minuscule amounts of cancer cells. It is also known that there may be “skip” areas between the cancer tissue and small hard-to-detect satellite cancer nodules in the immediate vicinity. Thus, in spite of clear margins, cancer cells may be resting on the other side of the biopsy margins. Cells may have migrated through the breast duct system and come to rest outside of the biopsy site as well. Radiotherapy is important because it has a good chance of destroying those random cancer cells beyond the breast cancer margins.
The method of radiotherapy involves the use of a machine called linear accelerator, which converts radioactive particles into a high-energy radiation beam that is used to treat a specific, defined area of the body. Radiation affects cells in the area of the tissue beneath the directed beam of radioactive particles and dividing cells are affected more by radiation than resting, non-cancerous cells. Cancer cells are, therefore, more affected than healthy cells, but both cell types are damaged by radiation. On the other hand, normal cells have a greater ability to repair themselves following radiation exposure, compared to cancer cells. Radiation places cancer cells into a cell death cycle at the time of the next scheduled cell division. This cell death cycle is known as apoptosis.
Raquel Billiones has a PhD in Biology and has over 15 years experience as a researcher, scientific English teacher, and medical writer. Since 2006, she has been a freelance WAHM specializing in medical writing and scientific documentation. 
Someone very much loves winter 
I Wish to know whom more 
