Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally as part of
cancer treatment to control or kill malignant
cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of
cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent
tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant
tumor (for example, early stages of breast cancer). Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after
chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of
oncology concerned with
radiotherapy is called radiation oncology.
Relevant Topics in General Science
