I have breast cancer and I’m starting radiation tomorrow. I understand that it’s supposed to reduce the risk of reoccurrence and that it is destroying cells. But how? Which cells are affected? Why will it make me tired?
In: Biology
Radiation therapy for cancer works like this.
If you got a surgery, the goal is to have removed the bulk of the cancer cells out with the tumor. Maybe the surgery removed 99% of the cells. As long as there’s a little bit left behind, those cancer cells can regrow. You shoot the remaining 1% with radiation with the hope of bringing it down to 0%.
Radiation is an invisible beam of light, kind of like focusing the sun’s light with a magnifying glass to make one small very hot spot. When you get radiation therapy, they will shoot multiple weaker radiation beams at you from all different directions and angles and the 1 tiny spot where they converge will get a summed up big dose.
The radiation will kill all cells in its path, but it damages cells that divide rapidly more so. The idea is that cancer cells divide more rapidly than your normal cells, so ideally they will be damaged more. The cancer cells should also be right in the little focused spot where all the beams converge and therefore damaged more. The act of a bunch of cells dying and their insides spilling out and into your bloodstream can cause fevers and fatigue.
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