Lecture

Radiotherapy: Basics & Classical Methods

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In course

PHYS-450: Radiation biology, protection and applications

This is an introductory course in radiation physics that aims at providing students with a foundation in radiation protection and with information about the main applications of radioactive sources/substances in the industry. The course includes presentati ...

Description

This lecture covers the basics and classical methods of radiotherapy, focusing on the application of ionizing radiation to fight cancer. Topics include the biological principles of carcinogenesis, types of radiotherapy techniques such as external beam and brachytherapy, and the use of radiosensitizers and radioprotectors. The lecture also discusses the characteristics of cancerous cells, cell response to radiation, and the importance of fractionation in radiotherapy strategies.

Instructors (2)

Pavel Frajtag

Oskari Ville Pakari

Education PhD | Physics 2016 – 2020 EPFL MSc | Nuclear Engineering 2014 – 2016 ETHZ BSc | Physics 2011 – 2014 KIT Teaching & PhD PhD Students Michel Saliba Courses Radiation and reactor experiments PHYS-451 The reactor experiments course aims to introduce the students to radiation detection techniques and nuclear reactor experiments. The core of the course is the unique opportunity to conduct reactor experiments with the EPFL react

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Health sciences

Radiology: Topics in radiology

Biology

Cell biology: Cancer

Related concepts (32)

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor (for example, early stages of breast cancer).

Radiobiology

Radiobiology (also known as radiation biology, and uncommonly as actinobiology) is a field of clinical and basic medical sciences that involves the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living things, especially health effects of radiation. Ionizing radiation is generally harmful and potentially lethal to living things but can have health benefits in radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer and thyrotoxicosis. Its most common impact is the induction of cancer with a latent period of years or decades after exposure.

External beam radiotherapy

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is a compound word that refers to the use of a collimated beam of ionizing radiation from outside the body to treat a disease. external—from outside the body, beam—shaped by collimation, radiation—ionizing radiation, therapy—used to treat disease The word teletherapy has the same meaning as external beam radiation therapy with the tele- empahasizing that it is treatment from a distance. Radiation and therapy are commonly shortened into the portmanteau radiotherapy.

Ionizing radiation

Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel up to 99% of the speed of light, and the electromagnetic waves are on the high-energy portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays, X-rays, and the higher energy ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum are ionizing radiation, whereas the lower energy ultraviolet, visible light, nearly all types of laser light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves are non-ionizing radiation.

Radiation hormesis

Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation (within the region of and just above natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not activated in absence of ionizing radiation. The reserve repair mechanisms are hypothesized to be sufficiently effective when stimulated as to not only cancel the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation but also inhibit disease not related to radiation exposure (see hormesis).

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