It has been known since the 19th century that radiation will kill cancer cells. The challenge has been to use radiation effectively while doing minimum damage to healthy tissue. Advances in radiation therapy technology have rendered radiation a much more effective weapon in the battle against many cancers.

What is radiation oncology? (first question)

How does radiation kill cancer cells? (skip to 1:26)

How effective is radiation in treating cancer? (skip to 3:10)

What types of cancers are typically treated with radiation? (skip to 4:27)

How is the decision made to use radiation, chemotherapy or both in treating cancer? (skip to 5:22)

How has radiation therapy improved? (skip to 6:20)

What are the potential side effects to treating cancer with radiation? (skip to 9:53)

The U.T. Health Science Center at Tyler has a new linear accelerator which delivers radiation treatment to patients. How is it different from most linear accelerators? (skip to 13:08)

What does the future hold for radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer? (skip to 16:34)

With advances made in recent years in understanding genetics, it is now possible to administer tests to help determine an individual’s susceptibility to cancer and to possibly ascertain the best courses of treatment for those that have certain cancers. But with this technology comes a list of questions regarding the timing, accuracy and even the ethics of testing individuals for susceptibility to disease. The U.T. Health Science Center’s Dr. William Hyman discusses these issues in this edition of Health Connection.

What is genetic or gene testing? (first question)

What is the relationship between genes and cancer? (skip to 0:31)

How are diseased cancer genes identified? (skip to 1:05)

How accurate is genetic testing as a predictor of cancer? (skip to 2:26)

What types of cancer susceptibility can be identified using genetic testing? (skip to 3:21)

Who should have genetic cancer testing done? (skip to 4:15)

How is genetic testing for cancer performed? (skip to 5:10)

What does the future hold of genetic testing as a tool to diagnose cancer? (skip to 5:44)

Are there ethical questions attendant to genetic testing? (skip to 6:40)