Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and radiotherapy is used to treat a significant proportion of cancer patients. Optimisation of the procedure should make it more effective.
Radiotherapy utilises ionising radiation to induce DNA damage and kill cancer cells. Although it is associated with a number of side-effects, if delivery is localised to the tumour site, radiotherapy may be curative for various forms of cancer. One radiotherapy technique utilises subatomic particles devoid of electrons known as alpha particles that get emitted from unstable atoms.
Further details: Advanced radiotherapy for cancer