Advantages
Radiation therapy of cancers is based upon the biological response of cells to ionizing radiation. Tumor cells typically lack effective repair mechanisms, so if radiation is delivered in small sessions, a process known as fractionation, normal tissue will have time to repair itself. This repair of normal tissue means that there is a therapeutic ratio between cancer cells and normal cells.
In addition, different types of ionizing radiation will produce different effects upon cells. A comparison of neutrons with gamma radiation illustrates the differences. Both neutrons and gamma-rays are uncharged; for this reason they are referred to as indirectly ionizing radiation. The biological effect of neutrons or gamma-rays is due almost completely to the secondary electrons that they produce when they interact with a patient's tissue.
Read more about this topic: Fast Neutron Therapy
Famous quotes containing the word advantages:
“The advantages found in history seem to be of three kinds, as it amuses the fancy, as it improves the understanding, and as it strengthens virtue.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“The respect for human rights is one of the most significant advantages of a free and democratic nation in the peaceful struggle for influence, and we should use this good weapon as effectively as possible.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“To say that a man is your Friend, means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. Most contemplate only what would be the accidental and trifling advantages of Friendship, as that the Friend can assist in time of need by his substance, or his influence, or his counsel.... Even the utmost goodwill and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)