The prospect of facing cancer in your own life or that of a loved one is a frightening prospect. Much of that fear comes from not understanding steps that can be taken and necessary medical procedures.

Fortunately, cancer patients have a number of key treatments available to counter their diseases. The earlier the diagnosis, the greater the likelihood of long-term survival.

One of the keys, however, is understanding what to do and the procedures available once the symptoms have been diagnosed and the disease is confirmed.

For most women undergoing therapeutic radiation, breast cancer is the reason why. It is the most common cancer among women in the United States, and radiation therapy is one of the most widely used treatments. To learn more about radiation and how and why it’s used, read on.

How Radiation Therapy Works

Radiation therapy for breast cancer uses high-energy x-rays that either kill cancer cells or inhibit their ability to divide or grow. Cancer cells grow rapidly and are therefore more susceptible to the effects of radiation therapy - more so than normal, healthy cells.

At What Stages Radiation is Considered

Radiation therapy is used to treat breast cancer at almost every stage of the disease’s progress. This treatment is used in stage I and stage II primary breast cancer along with surgery and, in some cases, after a mastectomy.

Radiation - Breast Cancer After A Lumpectomy

After a lumpectomy, radiation therapy is typically recommended to prevent a relapse or recurrence of the cancer. This kind of recurrence is called in-breast recurrence.

If radiation therapy is not done, the risk of in-breast recurrence over the course of the decade following the lumpectomy is between 20 and 35 percent. However, when radiation therapy is used after the surgery, that rate decreases to a phenomenal 5 to 10 percent.

Despite the survival benefits for radiation therapy after a lumpectomy, it’s not for everyone. If you’ve had radiation before, suffer from a connective tissue disease like lupus or are pregnant, you should not undergo radiation therapy.

Post-Mastectomy Radiation Therapy

Most doctors recommend radiation therapy after a mastectomy for patients who are at a high risk for cancer recurrence anywhere on the chest wall. Factors that put many women at risk include underarm lymph nodes that may test positive for cancerous cells, any tumor larger than 5 cm, and narrow margins for positive cancer cells in the removed tissue.

If a patient has a very small amount of lymph nodes that test positive for cancer cells, many practitioners argue over the value of radiation therapy at all. While breast cancer survival rates may be higher, many patients suffer from other issues like heart or coronary problems caused by the radiation.

Radiation Therapy Side Effects

Radiation is cumulative - that means as your treatments progress, so do their effectiveness and your side effects.

The most common side effect of radiation is fatigue. Patients should plan for this and opt to either take time off work or cut down on their stress and overall workload both at the office and at home. Some changes like a difference in skin color, different skin texture or increased skin irritation can also occur.

Other symptoms are itching, general skin irritation, redness, peeling, soreness, swelling and other common symptoms associated with localized radiation. Breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy often compare it to a severe, but very small sunburn. The good news is that when the treatment comes to a conclusion, the symptoms gradually diminish.

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