Electron
beam radiation therapy is also known as
EBRT and is a standard type of external radiation therapy
used in the treatment of prostate cancer. A radiation
oncologist will administer the EBRT after carefully
mapping the prostate gland. A perfect session of electron
beam radiation therapy will hit only the targeted area
and none of the surrounding organs. Unfortunately, over
the course of 5 treatments per week over 5 to 9 weeks,
the surrounding organs will be exposed to the photons
generated by the linear accelerator. Healthy prostate
gland cells as well as the healthy cells of surrounding
organs, unlike prostate cancer cells, can repair the
radiation damage to their DNA before cell division and
therefore minimize the amount of damage caused by radiation
exposure.
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