Can radiotherapy affect your bones?
Can radiotherapy affect your bones?
Radiotherapy can damage bones in different ways. Problems after pelvic radiotherapy may include weaker bones and tiny cracks in the bones. Radiotherapy can damage the bone cells in the pelvic area, and also lower the blood supply to the bones.
Does radiation cause bone pain?
Pelvic radiotherapy can affect the bones in your pelvis, lower back and hips. It may cause tiny cracks in these bones. These are sometimes called pelvic insufficiency fractures. They don’t always cause symptoms, but in some cases will cause pain or changes to mobility.
Does radiation weaken bone?
Exposure to chemotherapy and radiation leads to bone loss and increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
Does radiation therapy cause joint pain?
This pain is believed to affect compliance. Radiation therapy: Radiation can cause scar tissue, nerve damage and weakness and spur pre-existing chronic pain syndromes, such as rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Does radiation weaken the bones?
Radiation can also cause growth-hormone deficiency and delayed bone growth. This can increase the risk of fractures later in life, especially for younger patients. If you’ve had a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, you may also be at higher risk of bone loss.
What does radiation do to your blood?
The radiation causes the affected blood vessels to narrow and this limits the blood flow to the area. Therefore, patients who have had radiation treatment are at an increased risk of developing the condition.
Does radiation therapy cause low blood counts?
Radiation therapy. If you receive radiation therapy to large areas of your body and especially to the large bones that contain the most bone marrow, such as your pelvis, legs and torso, you might experience low levels of red and white blood cells.
How does radiation therapy affect bones?
It involves taking the bone with cancer out of the body, treating it with radiation, and then putting it back in. Side effects linked to this include wound healing problems, loss of joint movement, change in limb length, and fractures (breaks) in the treated piece of bone.
How dangerous is radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy to the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses can damage the lens and the blood vessels of the eye and optic nerve. This damage can cause some loss of vision and, in rare cases, lead to blindness.
What are the short term effects of radiation therapy?
Radiation Therapy: Managing Short-Term Side Effects. Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays or particles to kill cancer cells. Some normal cells can also be affected. This causes side effects such as dry skin, tiredness (fatigue), or changes in your appetite. Most side effects go away when your radiation therapy is over.
What are the dangers of radiation treatment?
Arm swelling (lymphedema) if the lymph nodes under the arm are treated
