Body Area: Arms / Hands

Body Parts: Whole Arm

Symptoms: Weakness

Description:
Radio Therapy, also called radiation oncology, uses high energy rays or particles to kills cancer cells following surgery or when surgery is not a good option. It also can reduce symptoms for cancer, especially spinal cord tumors. Most often, radiation is aimed at the tumor from a source outside of the body, such as a beam or multiple beams, much like getting an X-ray but with a much stronger dose of radiation, but in some cases the radiation is inserted directly or near the tumor. The total radiation is usually divided up in many sessions over the course of several weeks. The radiation can harm normal cells around the tumor, but is much stronger on the cancer cells than normal cells.