How to Choose the Eligible Institution for Radiation Oncology

When you are looking for a quick ride, Uber can help you get that in a few minutes. If you are looking for a new job on Social Media, LinkedIn is your go-to platform. But when it comes to choosing the right institution for Radiation Oncology, the process is tricky —yes, despite the availability of the internet.

In fact, in this context, the availability of the internet may be a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing in the sense that it’s easy to look up what you are looking for and it’s a curse in the sense that there are quite a number of fly-by-the-night institutions that have no experienced doctors.

Lucky for you, this article will help you know what to do when looking for the right hospital to have Radiation Oncology. Here is what we are going to cover:

• Definition of Radiation Oncology
• Why is it important to consider the right institution?
• Who should undergo Radiation Oncology treatment?

Are you ready? Okay, let’s delve in!

ALSO CHECK: 10 Facts About Radiation Oncology

What is Radiation Oncology?

You can think of Radiation Oncology as the use of high-energy waves of radiation to kill cancer cells and to relieve the pain that comes with this deadly disease. It has given a ray of hope to patients diagnosed with cancer as it considered to be a quick, effective and accurate way of treating cancer especially when it is used in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy.

This treatment of cancer using Radiation Oncology is usually known as Radiation Therapy or Radiotherapy. Overseeing this treatment is a Cancer Care Team that consists of Radiation Oncologists, Radiation Therapists, and Medical Physicists.

Two techniques are used to deliver Radiation Oncology to cancer patients. The first one is called External-beam radiation —this technique delivers radiation waves using a machine from outside the body. The second one is called Internal radiation or brachytherapy —this method involves the placement of radioactive sources in a body part that has the tumor.

When determining the type of radiotherapy to give a patient, Radiation Oncologists consider several factors. The primary factor is the type of cancer —as you may know, there are more than 100 different types of cancer. Listed below, are some of the factors that are considered when determining the type of treatment to go for:

• The size of the tumor.
• The overall health of the patient.
• Age and medical history of the patient.
• The location of the tumor.
• The proximity of the tumor to the normal body cells.
• Whether the patient will require a different type of cancer treatment.

Whether your Cancer Care Team uses the external or internal radiation, their effectiveness also depends on the stage of cancer. Radiotherapy is more effective on cancer that is at the early stage —but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it's ineffective on cancer that has developed.

It’s also important to note that Radiation Oncology has possible side effects associated with it. When delivering this treatment, normal cells that are close to the cancer cells can also get damaged. But this doesn’t happen to every patient and there are drugs that are taken to help the damaged healthy cells to recover swiftly.

Who needs Radiation Oncology?

In most cases, patients who need Radiation Therapy do not know if they need it or not. It’s not every cancer that has to go through radiotherapy, some only need other treatment methods such as Chemotherapy or Surgery. Instead of determining the ideal candidates for Radiation Oncology, here is a list of cancer types that respond positively to radiotherapy:

• Liver cancer
• Lung cancer
• Bone cancer
• Brain tumor
• Lymphoma
• Acoustic neuroma
• Arteriovenous malformations
• Breast cancer
• Meningioma
• Metastatic brain cancer
• Chordoma
• Pancreatic cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Head and neck cancers
• Soft tissues sarcoma
• Leukemia
• Spinal cord tumors
• Trigeminal neuralgia
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Osteosarcoma
• Chondrosarcoma
• Paranasal sinus cancer

Why is it Important to Consider the Right Institution?

This is probably a rhetoric question. Needless to say, you have to consider the right institution to have radiotherapy because this is a matter of life and death. With Radiation Oncology, there is a possibility of developing another type of cancer if the treatment is administered at an institution with no experienced Oncologists. In other words, the type of institution you go to for radiotherapy determines the success of the treatment.

It’s best to have radiotherapy at an institution that has an experienced Cancer Care Team and that uses advanced radiation oncology equipment. For instance, Turkey’s Acibadem Hospital Group has taken a leading role in investing in its clinical and Laboratory research as a way of combating this deadly disease.

This Turkish institution has expert Oncologists, Therapists, and Physicists that know how to minimize the risk of attaining another cancer through Radiation Oncology. The radiation therapy success rate is still on the rise at Acibadem Hospital, and that is why the institution keeps on welcoming a considerable number of foreign patients who are battling cancer.

This content is edited by Flymedi Medical Editors in October 2019.