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CancerQuest > Introduction to Patient Information > An Introduction to Cancer Treatments > Introduction to Radiation Therapy > Types of Cancer Treated by Radiation Therapy

Types of Cancer Treated by Radiation Therapy

Watch the full interview with Dr. Jonathon Beitler.

Radiation therapy is used against many types of cancer. About 60% of cancer cases require radiation therapy.⁽¹⁾ Listed are just some of the cancers that are treated with radiotherapy: prostate, skin, head and neck, throat, larynx, breast, brain, colo-rectal, lung, bone, leukemia, ovarian, and uterine.

Certain tumors respond to radiation treatment better than others. The amount of radiation and the type needed depends on each individual case, taking into account tumor size, the stage of the cancer, tumor location, health of the patient, method of radiation delivery, and total dose.⁽²⁾

Certain types of cancer are considered more responsive to radiation therapy. In these cancers radiation can sometimes successfully stop growth without permanently damaging the surrounding normal tissue. If these tumors can be treated early, before metastasis the cure rate is high.⁽²⁾
Cancers in this category:

• skin and lip
• head and neck
• breast
• cervical and endometrium
• prostate
• Hodgkin's disease and local extranodal lymphoma
• seminoma of testis and dysgerminoma of ovary
• medulloblastoma, pineal germinoma,and ependymoma
• retinoblastoma
• choroidal melanoma

Other tumors with limited response to radiation that may be curable with combined therapies include:

• Wilms tumor
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• colorectal cancer
• soft tissue carcinoma
• embryonal carcinoma of testis

Most other malignant cancers are not considered curable with radiation because they are difficult to detect early enough and/or they have a much higher growth rate. Tumors found in especially sensitive tissue cannot be treated with the large dose of radiation necessary to kill the tumor. Also, radiation alone is not usually successful against highly metastatic tumors. In some instances, a limited number of cures are obtained following surgery, radiation, or a combination of the two.⁽²⁾

References for this page:

1. RadiologyInfo.org. Accessed 10-5-2010 [http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=intro_onco]
2. Wang, C., M.D., ed. Clinical Radiation Oncology: Indications, Techniques, and Results. 2nd Edition. Wiley-Liss, Inc., 2000. 1-5.