Squamous cell carcinoma before and after treatment

How Radiation Causes Skin Cancer and How It Is Used To Treat It

Skin cancer is the result of prolonged damage to one’s genes, which is a segment of their DNA. Genes are the center defying how cells will grow and divide. Abnormal cells start to reproduce from repeated exposure to UV radiation. We call this unregulated reproduction of cells. Cancer cells making copies of themselves is called cell reproduction. Cell reproduction is necessary to replace cells that are constantly dying, allowing our organs to function properly, and for the human body to thrive.

Enter Image Guided Superficial Radiotherapy (IG-SRT). Radiation and radioactivity were discovered more than 100 years ago. Today, radiation is an important part of cancer treatment and more than half of all people diagnosed with cancer received radiation as at least part of their cancer treatment.

Just like from the initial time one started to develop skin cancer, a mutation took place in the genes of DNA. The same process is happening in radiation therapy, it works by damaging the cells DNA, this time the cancer cells, which prevents them from dividing and spreading any further. These cells will eventually weaken and are then eliminated from the body.

Unique advancements in technology, such as IG-SRT, more healthy tissue is left unaffected. The radiation beam can adjust its shape and pinpoint the skin cancer cells, all while emitting the proper dose from imaging the tumor. This allows for healthy cells to be left behind allowing them to recompose if affected at all.

Depth of penetration impacts the skin differently and allows for non-melanoma skin cancer treatment through UV radiation in controlled amounts. Because radiation therapy usually first damages cells undergoing mitosis, where the cell actually divides into two, the speed at which a tumor develops reflects how likely the cells will be affected by the radiation, known as radiosensitivity.

This low-dose of radiation safely destroys non-melanoma skin cancer cells without damaging healthy surrounding tissue. There is no cutting or stitching, less risk for infection, and no need for reconstructive plastic surgery to repair surgical scars.

Performed right in the physician’s office, this alternative to surgery delivers optimum results to treat skin cancer without the negative side effects of invasive treatments. The SRT-100™ Vision machine has been cleared by the Federal Drug Administration for use on the entire body—making it especially effective in the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer and is ideal for patients who have existing medical conditions that may make surgery a serious health risk.