Introduction:

Radiobiology is the science belonging to the biology that studies the effects of the different types of radiation on the lively matter.

Objective:

Identifying the scientific evidence in relation to radiation therapy of the patient with cancer of the maxillofacial region.

Methods:

A literature revision was carried out in search engines as: The electronic data bases PubMed, Medline, Cochrane, Hinari, and SciELO. For the search for information the key words used were head and neck cancer, treatment of the cancer of the maxillofacial region, radiation therapy, brachytherapy and types of radiation therapy.

Results:

For the treatment it is needed to evaluate the characteristics of the tumor and to determine the tumor stage, the location and extension of disease, as well as the pathological findings that dictate the conduct made suitable like the surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy and directive therapy. The maximum dose tolerated relating to the critical organs oscillates between 50 and 76 Gy. With the brachytherapy the radioactive source inside the patient can place itself in reservoirs, close to the tumor or in the tumor area. This allows managing dose lifted of irradiation very effective, to the tumor or zone of risk. The adverse effects of the ionizing radiations according to the impaired cell can be genetic and somatic damage.

Conclusions:

In the treatment of cancer, radiation therapy is a primary option, always with the precept that offers good results as to efficacy, tolerance and quality of life, causing the smaller possible damage to the sick and with the new technologies it can increase success and guarantee that a procedure keeps on being high-quality.

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