I hope this question makes sense. I read where high levels of radiation exposure can cause cancer, but if that is the case, how does radiation treatments cure cancer? Thank you for reading.
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Radiation causes cancer by inducing mutations in the DNA. High energy radiation strikes the DNA strand, and depending on the energy level can cause a change in the DNA, or if the radiation is strong enough it can break the strand entirely.
Radiation treatment works by bombarding the cells with so much high energy radiation that the DNA strands are chopped up into tiny bits, effectively killing the cells. Think of it as taking a chef’s knife to the DNA and mincing it up into tiny, useless pieces. Unfortunately, not all cancers are susceptible to radiation treatment, as some cancers (including the one I had in my youth) have a greatly enhanced ability to fix damage to their DNA. This means the radiation tactic doesn’t work, and will only kill healthy cells. In these causes, chemotherapy is used instead (which kills both cancer and healthy cells).
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