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What is Hypofractionated radiation?

What is Hypofractionated radiation?

(HY-poh-FRAK-shuh-NAY-ted RAY-dee-AY-shun THAYR-uh-pee) Radiation treatment in which the total dose of radiation is divided into large doses and treatments are given once a day or less often. Hypofractionated radiation therapy is given over a shorter period of time (fewer days or weeks) than standard radiation therapy.

What is hyperfractionated radiation therapy?

Listen to pronunciation. (HY-per-FRAK-shuh-NAY-ted RAY-dee-AY-shun THAYR-uh-pee) Radiation treatment in which the total dose of radiation is divided into small doses and treatments are given more than once a day.

Does palliative radiation have side effects?

General side effects include tiredness and minor skin redness in the area being treated. Nausea/sickness can occur with some treatments such as brain radiation and areas around the stomach/abdomen.

Is lumpectomy always followed by radiation?

Because a lumpectomy alone is associated with a higher rate of cancer recurrence than mastectomy, patients who elect to have a lumpectomy are generally also treated with radiation therapy.

How long can you wait to have radiation after surgery?

Post-surgical radiotherapy is designed to destroy remaining cancer cells following the removal of a localized breast tumor. Punglia said four to six weeks after surgery is widely viewed as a safe interval for beginning radiotherapy, which typically is administered five days a week for six weeks.

Why do I have Hypofractionation?

Like conventional radiation therapy, the aim of hypofractionation is to destroy cancer cells in the breast, but with larger radiation doses in fewer overall sessions. Whereas conventional radiation typically requires 25 to 30 sessions, hypofractionation requires 15 to 19.

What is the success rate for radiation therapy?

“In fact, based on the literature reviewed, it appears that external-beam radiation therapy is a superior treatment in some cases. “When patients are treated with modern external-beam radiation therapy, the overall cure rate was 93.3% with a metastasis-free survival rate at 5 years of 96.9%.

How does IMRT radiation work?

IMRT allows the radiation dose to conform more precisely to the three-dimensional shape of the tumor by changing — modulating — the radiation beam into multiple smaller beams. This enables a higher dose of radiation to be delivered to the tumor while sparing healthy tissue around it.