Eli5 How does radiation therapy actually work? Like how doesnt it break down more of the body and make the cancer worse or something like that? And does it target only cancer area or everything?

Question

Eli5 How does radiation therapy actually work? Like how doesnt it break down more of the body and make the cancer worse or something like that? And does it target only cancer area or everything?

In: 630

Answer 1

Short and simple explanation:
Cancer cells are weaker than your normal healthy cells.

So radiation and chemical therapies try to kill you to the point where cancer cells die and not your healthy ones.
It is a very thin line and hard to stop at the correct place (cancer cells dead, healthy cells barely surviving)