Many people wonder what happens to the cancer when it dies,  A tumor is made up of billions of cancer cells.  Over several weeks of radiation therapy the cancer cells will gradually die off.  Dead cancer cells are recycled by the body in the same way as the other billions of healthy cells that die every day in your body.  They are broken down into their basic components of amino acids, fats, etc, and are used by other healthy cells.

A cancer cell is only dangerous if it is alive and capable of dividing to form other cancer cells.  A dead cancer cell is just like any other dead cell in your body.  It is not contagious, it has no way to turn other cells into cancer, it is not poisonous.  A dead cancer cell is like a dead tiger.  It is just meat.  It’s just a bunch of nutrients for for your body to reuse.

When a lot of cells die in a short period of time, you can develop some inflammation and / or scarring in that part of the body.  It is normal to develop scarring in the prostate gland after completing radiation.