Question: Leila Nichol, I got a question: My question is, if you do zap deadly cancer cells with radiation, isn't the radiation affecting other cells in our body which are healthy or undertaking other functions in our body?

Leila Nichol answered on 15 Mar 2013:

That is an excellent questions abdulh, I’m very impressed. Yes exactly that. How we deliver high doses of radiation is through several “fractions” of small courses, so small doses every day for a period of a few weeks. The reason we do this is because of the response of different tissues. Healthy tissues are able to repair themselves faster than tumour cells. So by the time the next fraction has come, the healthy cells have already recovered, but the tumour is still dying. The principle behind this is radiobiology and many many people have published work and the best way to keep the balance between “tumour control” and “normal tissue complication”. In addition to this, every single patient has an individual treatment planned specifically for them using data from their CT scan. When we plan the treatment we specifically make the radiation avoid organs which might be damaged by radiation, such as, bladder, heart, rectum, lungs, spinal cord etc depending on the site. You’re very intuitive – maybe you should consider this as a career!