By Elyn Jacobs
Radiation therapy cancer treatment uses high-powered X-rays with the intention to kill cancer cells. But radiation is inherently damaging to DNA. Radiation therapy actually works by damaging the genes (DNA) in cells. Genes control how cells grow and divide. When radiation damages the genes of cancer cells, they can’t grow and divide any more. Over time, the cells die. This means radiation can be used to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors… or at least that was the theory.
Radiologists know that DNA damage is one of the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation. When something like that smashes into your DNA (or most anything), it is definitely going to do some damage.
Damage Caused by Radiation Therapy Cancer Treatments
Radiation therapy for cancer causes nerve damage (resulting in numbness and pain). Radiation to the head and neck area can damage the glands, causing throat and mouth sores. Radiation to the stomach or pelvis can damage the intestines. Radiation also limits reconstructive options for breast cancer, and can cause significant damage to the heart, lungs or any other organ nearby. It also causes second cancers.
But radiologists believe that these side effects are insignificant as compared to the benefits of radiation as a cancer treatment. They are wrong, the theory itself was wrong.
Radiation Therapy Creates More Cancer
While in the past researchers believed that radiation could actually kill cancer cells, researchers are now discovering that radiation treatment creates more cancer!
A recent study done at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found radiation actually induces (leads to) breast cancer cells to form more tumors. Plus, malignancy in radiation treated breast cells was likely to be 30 times more probable. Radiation actually promotes malignancy in cancer cells instead of killing them, and it allows cancers to grow back with even greater force.
The researchers reported that radiation treatment transforms cancer cells into treatment-resistant breast cancer stem cells (CSCs), even as it kills some of the cancerous cells within a tumor. While