What is Teletherapy?

Teletherapy, otherwise known as external beam radiotherapy, is a type of radiation therapy used to treat various forms of cancer. This method uses focused X -ray rays or gamma beams generated by machines such as linear accelerator, cobalt machine or gamma knives; The rays are focused on a specific area of ​​the tumor in the body to eliminate cancer cells. The radiation therapy team uses computer software to control the size of the beam to bomb the tumor. This helps to reduce damage to non -lawyer cells and organs near the tumor.

Often teleletherapy is an outpatient procedure that does not require a hospital. Treatment may take up to 10 weeks, with most medical sessions ranging from 10 minutes to half an hour five days a week. These sessions include the application of temporary ink to the body to indicate the area of ​​treatment and even small but permanent tetos that help focus the radiation beam. The patient can also wearbody mold or mask to keep the body or head during telephherapy treatment to keep in place.

There are several types of teleletherapy. In a three -dimensional conformal radiation therapy, the oncologist creates an image of the patient's interior by means of imaging technology, such as CT scanning or MRI, to assess the location of the tumor in relation to other patient organs. This method allows the oncologist to send the beam the right size to attack the tumor.

The intensity of modulated radiation therapy uses a similar method, but instead of one beam, this therapy uses more small rays, all of which are focused differently to create more accurate radiation therapy. This increased accuracy allows the transmission of stronger radiation when lowering damage to nearby organs and tissues in the body. These Treterrapy methods can also use as part of another method of image radiation therapy in which the oncologist takes daily scanningBody in the body to find out how to focus a beam because the tumor changes the size of the radiation.

Some forms of Telethep avoid the use of radiation; This is determined by the nature of the tumor and its potential resistance to radiation therapy. Instead of X -rays, oncologists can resort to proton beams or powerful neutron beams that help destroy the tumor. However, these methods are usually rare and are only used to treat specific cancer species.