How Does Radiosurgery Work?
Radiation kills cancer cells by destroying their DNA, which interrupts their ability to reproduce. Normal cells, however, can recover from radiation more easily. Radiosurgery uses a very high dose of radiation to treat a tumor in fewer sessions
than conventional radiation therapy. While a radiation therapy routine may include treatment 5 days a week for several weeks, radiosurgery is performed in five sessions or less. Although the number of treatments is fewer, each session usually takes more time than a typical radiation therapy treatment.
Similar to external beam radiation therapy, radiosurgery is performed with a linear accelerator, or linac. The linac generates high-energy radiation focused precisely on the tumor and delivered from many different angles to target each part of the tumor and deliver the prescribed amount of radiation.
When designing your treatment plan, your medical team relies on one or more types of 3-D scans of your body. These can include a CT scan, an MRI and/or a PET scan. By looking at these scans and other test results, the radiation oncologist and his or her team determines which EBRT technique is best suited for your particular case.
