What to Know About Radiation Therapy for Thymus Cancer

Radiation therapy is also called radiotherapy.

Radiation therapy is one way to treat thymus cancer. This treatment is also called radiotherapy. It uses X-rays to control the growth of cancer cells. Radiation is a local treatment, which means it affects the cancer cells only in the area treated.

Doctors frequently give radiation after surgery if the tumor had spread into nearby tissue, even if the tumor was completely removed. You may also have radiation if you cannot have surgery. Rarely, you may have radiation before surgery to shrink the size of a tumor to make surgery easier and more effective.

For this treatment, you will see a radiation oncologist. This doctor specializes in the use of radiation to kill cancer cells. He or she decides how often you need radiation and at what dose. Radiation for thymus cancer is given externally from a machine outside the body. It will feel a lot like getting an X-ray, only it takes a little longer.