Radiotherapy is one of the most effective ways to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. Around 50 percent of patients with tumors located in the gastrointestinal cavity (liver, pancreas, colon, prostate, etc) receive this type of treatment, which has increased cancer survival rates in recent decades. However, intensive radiation therapy not only damages tumor cells, but also healthy intestinal cells, leading to toxicity in 60 percent of treated patients. Whereas reversal of toxicity is observed after radiotherapy has concluded, 10 percent of treated patients develop gastrointestinal syndrome, a disease characterized by intestinal cell death, resulting in the destruction of the entire intestine and patient death.
* This article was originally published here
