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Radiation Treatment of Bone Metastases

  • Chapter
Bone Metastasis

Part of the book series: Cancer Drug Discovery and Development ((CDD&D))

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Abstract

Radiation is used to treat cancer with ionizing radiation resulting in damage to cellular DNA. When radiation passes through a living cell, it can damage the reproductive material in the cell directly and indirectly. Direct damage includes base deletions and single- and double-strand breaks in the DNA chain. Indirect damage occurs when radiation interacts with water molecules in the cell, releasing toxic free radicals. Repair of the damage is possible both in normal cells and cancer cells, although it is thought that cancer cells have less capacity to repair damaged DNA and, hence, a therapeutic ratio can be exploited.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Edward Chow MBBS, FRCPC & Elizabeth Toni Barnes MD, FRCPC

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Jackson Wu MD, FRCPC

Authors
  1. Edward Chow MBBS, FRCPC
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  2. Jackson Wu MD, FRCPC
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  3. Elizabeth Toni Barnes MD, FRCPC
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine/Juravinski Cancer Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Gurmit Singh PhD

  2. Calcium Research Laboratory, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Shafaat A. Rabbani MD

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© 2005 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Chow, E., Wu, J., Barnes, E.T. (2005). Radiation Treatment of Bone Metastases. In: Singh, G., Rabbani, S.A. (eds) Bone Metastasis. Cancer Drug Discovery and Development. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-892-7:323

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-892-7:323

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-403-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-892-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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