The history of radiation therapy or radiotherapy can be traced back to experiments made soon after the discovery of X-rays (1895), when it was shown that exposure to radiation produced cutaneous burns. Influenced by electrotherapy and escharotics—the medical application of caustic substances—doctors began using radiation to treat growths and lesions produced by diseases such as lupus, basal cell carcinoma, and epithelioma.[1] Radiation was generally believed to have bactericidal properties, so when radium was discovered, in addition to treatments similar to those used with x-rays, it was also used as an additive to medical treatments for diseases such as tuberculosis where there were resistant bacilli.[2][3]
Additionally, because radiation was found to exist in hot spring waters which were reputed for their curative powers, it was marketed as a wonder cure for all sorts of ailments in patent medicine and quack cures. It was believed by medical science that small doses of radiation would cause no harm and the harmful effects of large doses were temporary.[4]
The widespread use of radium in medicine ended when it was discovered that physical tolerance was lower than expected and exposure caused long term cell damage that could appear in carcinoma up to 40 years after treatment.[5] The use of radiation continues today as a treatment for cancer in radiation therapy.
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other ionizing radiation as a part ofradiationtherapy. Radiation proctopathy may occur as acute inflammation called "acute radiation proctitis" (and...
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treated with surgery alone with the hope of a cure. In most other cases, chemotherapy with or without radiationtherapy is used along with surgery. Larger tumors...
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depends on a number of factors. The highest rates of complications exist for those who have pelvic cancer or a historyofradiationtherapy. In one study,...
California, dedicated the first cobalt facility of the new RadiationTherapy and Nuclear Medicine Wing of the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on January 11, 1963 supervised...
adjuvant therapy has greatly expanded to include a wide range of adjuvant therapies to include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiation. Neoadjuvant...
insufficiency. Malignant diseases of the endolaryngeal mucosa. Previous historyofradiationtherapy to the larynx for treatment of laryngeal and hypolaryngeal...
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can be distinguished from therapy using surgery (surgical therapy), radiation (radiationtherapy), movement (physical therapy), or other modes. Among physicians...
lifetime risk of breast cancer >20% according to risk assessment tools Historyofradiationtherapy to chest between 10 and 30 years of age Have or has...
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