Loading…
Loading…
GCSE Physics · key term
Treatment that uses ionising radiation to damage or destroy unwanted tissue, such as a cancerous tumour.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.4.3.3 · Paper 1
The treatment of unwanted tissue, such as a cancerous tumour, using ionising radiation.
Revise: Uses of nuclear radiationRadiotherapy uses ionising radiation to damage cells in unwanted tissue, especially a cancerous tumour. Damage to DNA can stop cells reproducing or kill them. Rapidly dividing cancer cells are often particularly susceptible, but radiation cannot distinguish perfectly between cancer cells and healthy cells.
Specification 6.28P, 6.33P · Paper 1
Do not say that external-beam radiotherapy makes the patient radioactive: no radioactive source is placed inside the patient.
Distinguish the purpose of the radiation: a tracer helps locate or assess an organ; radiotherapy aims to damage unwanted tissue.
When describing radiotherapy, include how exposure of healthy tissue is limited.
Create a free account to read GCSE Physics revision notes for your exam board and track your progress.
Treatment that uses ionising radiation to damage and kill cancer cells.
Radiotherapy instead directs ionising radiation at a tumour to damage and kill cancer cells. Penetrating gamma radiation can reach a tumour inside the body, although healthy cells along its path may also be affected. That is why treatment is planned to concentrate radiation on the tumour while limiting exposure elsewhere.
The use of ionising radiation to destroy cancer cells or prevent them from continuing to grow.
Specification P6.2c · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
Revise: Medical uses of radiationRadiotherapy uses ionising radiation to damage cells in unwanted tissue, often a cancerous tumour. The aim may be to destroy the tumour or to control its growth. Unlike a diagnostic tracer, the radiation is deliberately directed or concentrated where its cell-damaging effect is needed.
Paper 1, Paper 2
Treatment that uses ionising radiation to damage or destroy unwanted tissue, such as a tumour.
Revise: Medical Uses of Nuclear RadiationIn radiotherapy, ionising radiation is directed at unwanted tissue such as a cancerous tumour. Radiation can damage cells enough to stop them dividing or to kill them. External beams can be aimed at the tumour from different directions, concentrating treatment there while limiting, though not eliminating, the dose to surrounding healthy tissue.