Side Effects Of Radiation Therapy For Breast Cancer Patients

The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells.

Side effects of radiation therapy for breast cancer patients.

Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue. Learn more about possible side effects. In rare cases radiation therapy to the breast can cause a second cancer. The x rays or particles are painless and invisible.

They re usually gone within a few weeks after treatment ends. Radiation can be an effective treatment for breast cancer but it does have side effects. Early side effects happen during or shortly after treatment. Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high energy waves to kill tumor cells.

Early and late effects of radiation therapy. The most common early side effects are fatigue feeling tired and skin changes. Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated. Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells.

For women who are long term smokers radiation therapy may also increase the risk of lung cancer. Rapidly growing cells such as cancer cells are more susceptible to the effects of radiation therapy than are normal cells. Doctors may recommend this therapy in combination with others such as surgery and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy for breast cancer uses high energy x rays protons or other particles to kill cancer cells.

The most common cancers linked to radiation therapy are sarcomas cancers of the connective tissue.