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Episode 416: Cancer Treatments for Noncancer Indications: Radiation

Release Date: 05/22/2026

Episode 437: Precision Oncology: What We’ve Learned and What’s Ahead

The ONS Podcast

“Biomarker testing isn’t just about generating more information. It’s about answering very practical questions for our patients. Can we identify disease earlier? Can we understand whether treatment is working? Are we able to identify why a cancer has become resistant? Ultimately, I think that’s where precision oncology becomes very meaningful. It’s not about the molecular report sitting in the chart. It’s about taking that information and using it to make the best possible decision for our individual patients,” ONS member Erica Bello Rodriguez, MSN, AGNP, NP-C, AOCNP®, oncology...

Episode 436: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Hypersensitivity Reactions

The ONS Podcast

“The most important thing related to hypersensitivity reactions is that there is often a potential for rapid progression, and that’s what makes these reactions an oncologic emergency. The patients may have symptoms that are mild, and that quickly can progress to respiratory compromise, hypertension, cardiovascular issues, or anaphylaxis. Early recognition is so important, so we don’t want to wait for our patient to become hypotensive or significantly hypoxic before we identify that they’re having a serious reaction,” ONS member Christina Matousek, DNP, RN, OCN®, patient education...

Episode 435: An Overview of Hodgkin Lymphoma for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“The accumulation of these malignant and reactive cells, that’s what causes the lymph nodes to get big. That’s why they grow. And that’s why the classic presentation is persistent, painless, enlarged lymph nodes. So when we think of the pathophysiology of Hodgkin lymphoma, there are really two processes contributing to the presentation: One is the physical effects of enlarging lymph nodes or the involved organs. The second is the systemic inflammatory response generated by it and its surrounding immune environment,” ONS member Victoria Krogg, DNP, APRN-CNP, AOCNP®, nurse...

Episode 434: Oncology–Psychiatric RN Collaboration to Support Psychosocial Health

The ONS Podcast

“Nurses are the front line. Oncology nurses see their patients almost all day. If you’re noticing that anxiety is causing significant distress or anxiety is disrupting a patient’s ability to concentrate during medical conversations or decision-making—anytime you’re seeing significant distress or disruption to functioning, that’s a pretty good indicator that referral to a psychiatric nurse and psychiatric care could be very helpful for that patient,” Amber Altidor, DNP, APRN-FPA, PMHNP-BC, assistant professor at Rush University College of Nursing and psychiatric nurse practitioner...

Episode 433: Cancer Treatments for Noncancer Indications: Chemotherapy/Immunotherapy

The ONS Podcast

“Unlike our cancer indications where we use these medications often to activate the immune system to target cancerous cells, in noncancer indications, the goal is really to either suppress an overactive immune or inflammatory cells or modulate the immune system. Immune modulation by use of chemotherapy and immunotherapy can help reduce abnormal inflammation, decrease autoantibody production, and also can alter T-cell and B-cell activity,” ONS member Kelsey Miller, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, OCN®, clinical nurse specialist in oncology and infusion therapy at Reading Hospital in West Reading, PA,...

Episode 432: Long-Term Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“It’s a chronic disease. It never goes away for some people, and so therefore it has these periods of remission where it’s really quiet and well controlled. Then there can be periods of flares where you’re actively engaged in treatment or it’s impacting other pieces. There’s this feeling patients have of, ‘When am I going to have that flare?’ You know, this anticipatory anxiety of, ‘When are things going to be done differently?’ or ‘When do I need to change?’” ONS member Caitlin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer...

Episode 431: Oncologic Emergencies 101: Urinary Obstruction

The ONS Podcast

“Think about all the important things our kidneys do for the body. Those things are compromised. If we have excess buildup of toxins and waste in the body, you’re having problems with fluid reabsorption. Then you have also problems with electrolytes not being balanced. Then in turn, you have ongoing shutdown of systems. So the cardiopulmonary system gets compromise. Your circulatory system then gets compromised. And then all the things in the body that depend upon ongoing circulatory flow are then causing major resets in the system that need to be addressed,” ONS member Brenda S....

Episode 430: Leadership Unlocked: Is It Your Time to Serve?

The ONS Podcast

“If you are considering board service, I would say take the leap. Start with your local chapter. It will give you some valuable skills that will help prepare you when you are applying for your national level. And I always say, if you want to do it, just do it because what’s the worst that can happen? They can say no, but that doesn’t mean that you will never serve on a board. I always tell people delayed is not denied,” Cassandra Green, DNP, RN, OCN®, ONS member and past president of the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC) Board of Directors, told Evelyn Wempe, DNP,...

Episode 429: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: CNS Cancers

The ONS Podcast

“They’re really worried that radiation is going to be painful. So they come in for that first day of treatment very anxious. With our patients with brain cancer, we’re using the masks on the table, and those masks are very tight and hold their heads very, very still. So they’ll be very worried about being claustrophobic. We may start out the first day or two with a little bit of [lorazepam]. And they’ll come to me and they’ll say, ‘This really hasn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be,’” ONS member Catherine McCluskey, BSN, RN, OCN®, ROCN™, radiation oncology...

Episode 428: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatment Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“Measurable residual disease is where I think the terminology fits best in that, it is intended to measure the amount of cancer cells that are present in the blood or bone marrow at the time the sample was collected. We can identify one cancer cell in a million. Where that can be really valuable is when we start to think about the duration of treatments and the response to some of our treatments,” ONS member Caitlin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical...

More Episodes

“When you have benign conditions, we’re actually treating 3 gray, so a significant difference [versus doses of 60 gray for brain cancer]. Typically, when you treat at a high dose, the goal is to destroy tissue, like cancer tissue or cancer cells. But when we give a low dose, the goal is actually to modulate inflammation. And what it does is it slows down those inflammatory cells or those cells that release the chemicals that cause pain and inflammation,” Amanda Meyer, DNP, APRN, CNP, family nurse practitioner in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about radiation therapy for noncancer indications.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.25 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by May 22, 2027. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge about the use of radiation to treat noncancerous conditions.

Episode Notes

Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.
ONS Podcast™ episodes:

ONS Voice articles:

ONS book: Manual for Radiation Oncology Nursing Practice and Education (fifth edition)
ONS courses:

Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles:

ONS Huddle Cards:

German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO): Guidelines in Radiotherapy: Radiotherapy for Benign Diseases

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Highlights From This Episode

“We always typically think of it as cancer treatment, but we can use radiation for noncancerous conditions, as well. And radiation was actually used for benign diseases right after the discovery of x-rays. By the 1920s it was used a lot for different types of musculoskeletal, dermatologic issues, and different types of inflammatory conditions. And over time, since the 1920s, we’ve actually really gotten a really good understanding of it.” TS 1:37

“When we’re looking at what are good candidate characteristics, we do typically like older patients, so patients over the age of 65. And the rationale behind that is we know that there is a potential for a secondary risk of a skin cancer about 20 to 30 years after getting low-dose radiation, like a basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer. The older the patient is, the less likely they are to have any adverse effects from that.” TS 8:22

“When we do the low-dose radiation, they’ve tried other measures that haven’t been successful. However, we don’t want a patient who is so severe that they’re ready for surgery, when they’re bone on bone, because we know that radiation isn’t as effective when they are that severe. So there’s this sweet window where low-dose radiation works best in these patients.” TS 9:39

“When we’re treating with a little bit higher dose for like a Dupuytren’s or a Ledderhose, because it’s an anti-proliferative dose, those patients, they do get more skin redness, more dry skin. That’s very temporary, and it resolves within a week or two after treatment. But really, we don’t see any acute side effects. The long-term side effect of the radiation-induced malignancy, again, is a very low—0.05% according to some of the European guidelines.” TS 12:34

“I really wish people appreciated how interdisciplinary this is. We need to get referrals from family medicine and from primary care and internal medicine and pain medicine physicians and inflammatory physicians and podiatry and pain specialists. And we really need to use this multidisciplinary approach to get earlier referrals for patients because there is this sweet window of time where low-dose radiation works the best.” TS 18:40

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