Radiation Oncology

Radiation oncology is a medical specialty that involves treating cancer with radiation. Doctors who specialize in treating cancer with radiation use radiation therapy to treat a wide variety of cancers, including liver, stomach, rectal and pancreatic.

Radiation therapy uses carefully regulated doses of high-energy radiation to target and kill cancer cells. Radiation can cause some cancer cells to die immediately after treatment. However, most cancer cells die because the radiation damages the chromosomes and DNA, as the cells can no longer divide and the tumor cannot grow.

A radiation oncologist is a specialist physician who uses ionizing radiation, such as megavoltage X-rays or radionuclides, as part of the treatment of cancer. Radiation oncology is one of the three primary specialties, with the other two being surgical and medical oncology, that can be involved in the treatment of cancer.

Radiation can be given either alone or in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy. It may also be used in a palliative way to relieve symptoms in patients with incurable cancers. A radiation oncologist may also use radiation to help treat some benign diseases or benign tumors. In some countries, a single oncologist who is a “clinical oncologist,” controls the administration of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Radiation oncologists work closely with other physicians such as internal medicine subspecialists, interventional radiologists, medical oncologists and surgical oncologists, as well as medical physicists and technicians, as part of a multi-disciplinary cancer team.

Dr. Christopher Hayden Crane is an expert in the treatment of anal cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and primary and metastatic liver cancers.   He is currently the Program Director and Chief of the gastrointestinal section of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.