What is the difference between chemotherapy and radiotherapy

Usually, there are many patients who are ill and often come into contact with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Many people think that chemotherapy and radiotherapy are exactly the same treatment methods. Chemotherapy is through the use of medication, coupled with methods of filtering the human body, to improve the condition and prevent cell expansion, while radiotherapy is through radiofrequency, x-rays and other methods to irradiate tumors.

Chemotherapy

There are four ways to apply chemotherapy clinically

1. Systemic chemotherapy for advanced or disseminated cancer

Because there are usually no other effective treatments for patients with this type of tumor, chemotherapy is often used initially, with the short-term goal of achieving remission. This type of chemotherapy is usually called induction chemotherapy. If the initial chemotherapy regimen fails, switching to another chemotherapy regimen is called salvage treatment.

2. Adjuvant Chemotherapy

It refers to chemotherapy performed after local treatment (surgery or radiotherapy) to prevent the recurrence and metastasis of possible micro-metastatic lesions. For example, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with osteosarcoma, testicular tumors, and high-risk breast cancer can significantly improve the efficacy and increase the survival rate or disease-free survival rate.

Introduction to Radiation Therapy

Tumor radiation therapy uses radiation such as alpha, beta, gamma rays and various types of x-rays produced by radioactive isotopes.

A method of treating malignant tumors using x-rays, electron beams, proton beams and other particle beams generated by a treatment machine or accelerator.

Tumor radiation therapy (abbreviated as radiotherapy) is the use of radiation to treat cancer. Radiation therapy has a history of more than a century. After Roentgen discovered X-rays and Marie Curie discovered radium, they were soon used in the clinical treatment of malignant tumors. Until now, radiotherapy is still an important local treatment method for malignant tumors. About 70% of cancer patients need radiotherapy during the treatment of cancer, and about 40% of cancers can be cured by radiotherapy.

The role and status of radiotherapy in tumor treatment are becoming increasingly prominent. Radiotherapy has become one of the main means of treating malignant tumors. Radiation therapy[1]Radiotherapy has only a few decades of history, but has developed rapidly. Due to the use of ultra-high pressure therapy machines, the improvement of auxiliary tools and the accumulation of experience, the treatment effect has been significantly improved, and it has now become one of the most important means of cancer treatment. In China, more than 70% of cancers require radiotherapy, and according to statistics in the United States, more than 50% of cancers require radiotherapy. Radiation therapy is used in almost all cancer treatments, and for many cancer patients it is the only treatment necessary.

Biological Therapy Thousands of people have been cured of their cancer using radiation therapy alone or a combination of radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and biological therapy. Doctors can use radiation therapy to shrink tumors before surgery to make them easier to remove; after surgery, radiation therapy can be used to inhibit the growth of remaining cancer cells.