Radiation Therapy for Sarcoma

Radiation therapy destroys cancer cells left behind after surgery. Sometimes radiation is used to shrink a tumor before surgery.

About half of our bone cancer patients will have radiation therapy after surgery, to reduce the risk of a recurrence.

Radiation therapy typically is given five days a week for a period of five or six weeks, using a machine that looks much like a regular X-ray machine. The procedure is not painful, and each treatment lasts only minutes.

Our doctors are doing research to evaluate the application of radiation therapy directly to the bone during surgery, a treatment known as "intraoperative radiation therapy." At this time, this treatment is available in a clinical trial.