Tag Archives: Radiation Therapy

What is Radium and Its Uses In Radiation Therapy?

As Radiologic Technologists, I’m sure you are very familiar with the elements like polonium, radium, cobalt, radon and uranium, among others. Some of these radioactive elements are used for therapeutic purposes in the medical field. Let’s discuss about radium:

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History of Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy has been in use as a cancer treatment for more than 100 years, with its earliest roots traced from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. The field of radiation therapy began to grow in the early 1900s largely due to the groundbreaking work of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Curie, who discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium. This began a new era in medical treatment and research. Radium was used in various forms until the mid-1900s when cobalt and cesium units came into use. Medical linear accelerators have been used to as sources of radiation Click Here To Read More

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Brief Overview of Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy also known as Radiation Therapy, is a treatment of disease primarily malignant tumors using electromagnetic and particulate radiation. Aims of Radiotherapy: 1. Radical Care – treatment is intended to cure the patient of his/her disease. 2. Palliative Care – relieve the patient of the distressing symptoms of the advance disease or cancer – ease up the pain. Two Types: 1. Teletherapy/ External Beam Therapy application o radiation beam at a distance from the patient’s body. 3. Brachytherapy/ Plesiotherapy/ Internal Radiotherapy/ Intaluminal/ Intracavitary – Introduction of radioactive source near or within the tumor. – Very expensive • Application of the Click Here To Read More

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