How are gamma rays used to treat cancer if they cause cancer?

Question

I searched it up but it’s not very specific about how this works.

In: 0

Answer 1

Basically how most cancer treatment work is by taking advantage that cancer cells more vulnerable than healthy cells. So you give just enough poison so the cancer dies and the healthy cells lives.

Gamma rays do the same, but yes gamma rays can also cause cancer which is a risk with the treatment. A great thing about radiation treatment is that it tuned quite precisely to hit an area that needs treatment, so with a small areal getting hit by the rays its relatively low risk of getting additional cancer from the treatment.