<P> The history of radiation therapy or radiotherapy can be traced back to experiments made soon after the discovery of x-rays (1895), when it was shown that exposure to radiation produced cutaneous burns . Influenced by electrotherapy and escharotics--the medical application of caustic substances--doctors began using radiation to treat growths and lesions produced by diseases such as lupus, basal cell carcinoma, and epithelioma . Radiation was generally believed to have bactericidal properties, so when radium was discovered, in addition to treatments similar to those used with x-rays, it was also used as an additive to medical treatments for diseases such as tuberculosis where there were resistant bacilli . </P> <P> Additionally, because radiation was found to exist in hot spring waters which were reputed for their curative powers, it was marketed as a wonder cure for all sorts of ailments in patent medicine and quack cures . It was believed by medical science that small doses of radiation would cause no harm and the harmful effects of large doses were temporary . </P>

When was radiotherapy first used to treat cancer