One of the first things to think about in regards to radiation therapy is which pet is a candidate to receive radiation as a therapy in the first place? It's always important to remember that the best results from radiation therapy are going to be achieved if a tumor is localized with no evidence of metastasis, and the tumor is unlikely to metastasize. Radiation therapy is an exciting method of therapy for localized tumors. The treatment itself can occur in many different fashions in this day in agefrom something as simple as giving an injection radioactive iodine to a hyperthyroid cat, up to delivering very high doses of radiation to a conformed target using stereotactic radiosurgery. Some veterinary technicians may be heavily involved in the designing of treatment plans and the actual administration of the therapy as well. But for many technicians the how to of radiation therapy is less interesting and information on how they can help with the aftercare of the patients is more useful. To understand what to expect in terms of side effects and outcome of radiation it is still important to know some concepts on how radiation works, what makes some tissues react to radiation the way they do. And how different protocols can affect the way both tumors and normal tissues respond to radiation. The primary elements that determine side effects are fraction size, tissue type, total dose, and age of the patient.
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