Radiation Oncology

What Is Radiation Therapy?

Radiotherapy is a treatment delivered with special devices that uses high-energy ionizing radiation to target malignant and some benign tumors. Clinics where this treatment is delivered in accordance with appropriate principles are called “Radiation Oncology Clinics”.

70–80% of all cancer patients need radiotherapy at some point in their lives after diagnosis. In cancer treatment, radiotherapy can be used alone as the main treatment (curative), before or after other treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy to increase treatment success (adjuvant/neoadjuvant), or at the same time as chemotherapy/immunotherapy/targeted therapies (concurrent). In addition, it is one of the most effective treatment methods frequently used to treat cancer-related complaints such as pain, bleeding and obstruction, in order to relieve symptoms and improve the patient’s quality of life (palliative).

Conditions Treated with Radiotherapy:

• Lung cancers

• Head and neck cancers (nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, nasal cavity and sinuses, oral cavity, salivary gland)

• Some benign diseases (AVM, keloid, etc.)

• Skin cancers (squamous and basal cell, Merkel cell, melanoma)

• Endocrine (thyroid, adrenal, pituitary)

• Gastrointestinal cancers (esophagus, stomach, pancreas, hepatobiliary, colon, rectum, anal canal)

• Genitourinary cancers (prostate, bladder, kidney, penis, testis, ureter)

• Gynecological cancers (cervix, endometrium, ovary, vagina, vulva)

• Bone and soft tissue cancers

• Lymphoma, leukemia, myeloma

• Breast cancers

• Central nervous system tumors (brain, spinal cord)