Parathyroid cancer treatment with radiotherapy

Radiotherapy uses various sources of ionizing exposure to treat cancer and tumors all around the body. Still, treating parathyroid cancer with radiotherapy might be challenging due to specific anatomical features. The main reason is the numerous critical anatomical structures (mostly nerves, thyroid, and blood vessels) allocated near the parathyroid gland. Still, various apparatuses can easily handle that task without damaging vital anatomical structures. During radiotherapy, the patient places on a special table or chair under a giant apparatus that send beams of ionizing exposure. These beams damage the DNA of a parathyroid tumor, prevent it from further growth, and slowly shrink the tumor size. As a result, it becomes more accessible for surgeons to remove the cancer. Also, the beams’ high focus level makes avoiding unnecessary damage to surrounding tissues possible. Depending on a dosage of a single procedure and the patient’s condition, a single course of radiation therapy might take up somewhere between 10 to 30 sessions. Radiotherapy also often becomes an excellent therapy method that helps prevent relapses and might be considered part of combined therapy. It is frequently used after the operation to kill remaining (tiny) cancer cells.