Even though radiotherapy is a standard treatment for most types of cancer, there are quite a few patients suffering from breast cancer that question the need for it after surgical removal of breast cancer tissues. It is a fact that around 30% of women that do not undergo radiotherapy experience cancer recurrence, even though they have gone through surgery to remove the cancerous tumor from their breast. Physicians often find it quite difficult to differentiate the healthy tissue around the cancer since it is somewhat complicated in measuring with detail the amounts of cancer cells. There is a possibility that there might be skip areas between cancerous tissues and tiny difficult to find satellite cancer tumors surrounding the area. It is also possible for cancer cells to travel via the breast duct system and develop outside the location of biopsy. Radiotherapy is very beneficial since it has a better likelihood of eradicating those random cancer cells developing outside the main breast cancer areas.
Radiotherapy is basically a cancer treatment that uses a specific machine called a linear accelerator. This machine transforms radioactive particles into beams of high energy radiation which is applied to specific areas of the body. When a specific tissue area is exposed to these radiation beams, the dividing cells in the cancerous areas are influenced more compared to resting normal cells. Subsequently, cancerous cells are more affected by radiation than healthy cells even though both types of cells experience radiation damage. Factually, normal healthy cells are more capable for self repair after being exposed to radiation compared to cancerous cells. Exposure to radiation causes cancerous cells to enter the cell death cycle or also known as apoptosis during the following cell division.
Physicians may recommend radiotherapy focused on areas of the chest after breast surgery or mastectomy if the breast cancer has infiltrated the surgical margins or if the cancer has metastasized into the lymph nodes. Administering radiotherapy increases the survival rate and significantly decreases the recurrence rate.
