Cancer Treatment Options Forum - March 16th, 2011 - 9 Comments
Can you have radiation therapy more than once in life if cancer returns years later?
A friend had Hodgkins in the 80s and now has breast cancer. She was told at one time that she wouldn’t be able to have radiation again… can she?
Yes, but I would not. Radiation will just cause more pain and suffering, there are better alternatives. For more information on better cures visit the site below.
Yes, she can.
yes
A lot depends on the kind of radiation she had. Better to check with an expert than take any advice here. Some forms and strengths of radiation therapy cannot be repeated. Others can. She needs to gather her medical treatment records and seek professional advice.
Yes, she can, It is the chemotherapy that would have to be changed.
She should be able to.
Someone very close to me had cancer in the 80s and received radiation. But because of the amount of radiation, she was told she could never have it again. But when her cancer came back a few years ago, they planted radiation seeds to shrink the tumor. They did not want to use radiation, but there was no alternative. It didn’t work. However, this was a brain tumor, not breast cancer.
sorry, but the truth is the radiation for the Hodgkin’s probably caused the breast cancer now. This isn’t real common but it does occur often enough.
http://www.lymphomainfo.net/surviving/secondary.html
Whether or not she can have more radiation depends on the tumor type and what her radiation oncologist has to say. I’d guess the answer is maybe.
As someone replied to this question – its best left for a professional to reply. There are cases where radiation is given to an extent that it is enough for what a person would be able to tolerate in his/her lifetime. It also depends on the dosage metted out. To give you an example – I was given a massive overdose of radiation and today the doctors hestitate to even get me take an x-ray!
Caprichoso