How does radiation therapy damage or destroy cancer cells?
Normally the cells in our body only reproduce when we need them; however, cancer cells grow and divide much more rapidly causing tumor masses. Receiving a high energy dose of radiation can damage these cancer cells preventing them from dividing and/or slowing down their growth. Often, high energy radiation will kill the cancer cells causing tumors to shrink and/or disappear completely. In the process of radiating the cancer cells, normal cells are also affected by the radiation, but usually will recover more quickly.
