Around the irradiation
Gray is a unit that occurs in physics. This unit is derived from a formula for determining the absorbed dose. The unit is defined as one joule per kilogram.
This corresponds to one Gray. The absorbed dose is caused by ionizing radiation. This is used in medicine as part of radiation therapy, for example, for various types of tumour or as nuclear medicine therapy.
In order to introduce the absorbed dose, it is important to know that radiation therapy uses doses of 20,000 – 80,000 milligray (mGy). Per gray radiation dose, approximately 5000 DNA damages occur in a cell. It is up to each patient to decide whether he wants to go to work or not.
Because every body copes with this phase in a different way. Some patients do not mind the radiation. They do not want to focus too much on the therapy and yet want to be busy with other things.
Others feel very tired after a few sessions and need longer periods of rest. In addition, some patients are bothered by the fact that they are not allowed to wash themselves. This is handled differently with each radiation treatment.
You can powder yourself instead. It is therefore not a problem if the patient does not feel well. Often it is several months.
Since the statutory health insurance pays after 6 weeks, this is also no obstacle to getting a sick note. Radiation therapy must be well planned in order to precisely localise the area affected by the tumour and to spare neighbouring tissue as much as possible. To this end, the patient is positioned accordingly by medical-technical X-ray assistants.
Before the start of an irradiation cycle, the exact position of the tumor is determined and marked in test images so that the patient is positioned the same way for each irradiation. This enables the maximum radiation dose to reach the tumor tissue while at the same time protecting the surrounding tissue as much as possible. During irradiation, all other persons leave the room.
However, the patient is monitored by a camera and microphone system. In total, irradiation itself only takes a few seconds, but positioning and adjusting the device takes 10 to 15 minutes. The number of irradiations is determined individually according to the size and type of tumour in a radiation plan.
Irradiation after surgery usually starts with 28 sessions, which are performed once a day, five days a week. However, the number of sessions can be adapted to the patient and the response of the tumour and can result in more than 30. For patients for whom daily travel to the clinic is a relevant problem, higher doses can be applied in some sessions, thus reducing the total number of sessions.
A cure for tumor diseases cannot be attributed to radiation therapy alone, but depends on many different factors. These include tumor size, number of affected lymph nodes, and possibly existing metastases. On the basis of these factors, it is possible to make a statement about the intention with which a breast cancer is treated, i.e. curative (healing) or palliative (alleviating).
In the case of breast cancer, the chances of cure also depend on the type of tumour, which is determined under the microscope, and on whether there are docking sites (hormone receptors) that can be additionally treated with other drugs. Radiation therapy is often recommended with a view to local recurrence, i.e. the reappearance of cancer cells at the site of surgery, or after chemotherapy. Without irradiation, a local relapse occurs in up to 50% of cases, after radiotherapy only in up to 5 – 10% of cases.
Radiotherapy has the best effect on healthy blood and tissue saturated with oxygen. Smoking greatly reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and reduces the effectiveness of the therapy. Smoking is known to be a cause for the development of many malignant and benign diseases.
In particular, it is one of the most important reasons for the development of carcinomas. For this reason, a general abstinence from smoking is always advisable, especially with regard to radiation therapy. If this is not possible, an attempt should at least be made to reduce the number of cigarettes as much as possible.
During radiotherapy there is no absolute ban on alcohol. In moderation, consumption is possible in the form of 1-2 glasses of wine occasionally. Since alcohol is highly damaging to healthy tissue in addition to radiation therapy, it should not be consumed in the case of esophageal cancer.
