Radiotherapy, which is also called radiation therapy or radiation oncology, treats the patients of cancer and other diseases with the help of ionized radiations.

Generally combined with either of the surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or hormone therapy, it is commonly applied to the cancerous tumors.

The success of the treatment particularly depends upon the type, location, and stage of the tumor, as well as the general health of the patient.

In some cases, where the cancer is not possible-to-treat this treatment is given to ease the complications faced in the final stages of cancer.

However, to avoid the recurrence, scientists are now working upon the idea to dynamically attacking the tumor cells so that they can be destructed in the one go.

The radiated waves are generally X-rays, gamma rays and even charged rays. Different cancers respond differently to the radiotherapy, depending upon their radio-sensitivity.

There are basically three types of radiotherapies- teletherapy (outside the body), brachytherapy (sealed inside the body) and systemic radioisotope therapy (oral ingestion), depending upon the type of cancer.

Although, a painless treatment, it can often lead to side-effects, which includes fatigue, skin irritation, swelling or even infertility in some cases.

Dr. David Skeggs, in a breakthrough experiment, developed a computer-controlled radiotherapy, which helped radiologists to focus primarily on tumor without affecting the other healthy cells. Dr. Skeggs dies at the age of 82.