#343 – The evolving role of radiation: advancements in cancer treatment, emerging low-dose treatments for arthritis, tendonitis, and injuries, and addressing misconceptions | Sanjay Mehta, M.D.
episodePreviously titled “#343 – The evolving role of radiation: advancements in cancer treatment, emerging low-dose treatments for arthritis, tendonitis, and injuries, and addressing misconceptions | Sanjay Mehta, M.D.” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What advancements are being made in radiation oncology?
If you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level, it's our goal to ensure members get back much more than the price of a subscription. If you want to learn more about the benefits of our premium membership, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash subscribe. My guest this week is Dr. Sanjay Mehta. Sanjay is a radiation oncologist at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Houston, Texas, where he's been in practice for more than 20 years. I wanted to have Sanjay on the podcast to talk about all things pertaining to radiation oncology, but also the history and some of the misconceptions around radiation exposure and radiophobia. We talk about some of the very interesting applications that I only learned about recently that are very common outside of the United States that involve low-dose radiation to treat inflammatory conditions and athletic injuries. Now, of course, those of you who are interested may recall that because this podcast is called The Drive, I do occasionally talk about cars.
What are the misconceptions about radiation exposure?
And given that Sanjay and I have a shared passion for them, and in fact, that's how Sanjay and I met, we do end this discussion with a little bit of a deep dive into CARS. But of course, back to the main point of this discussion, we talk about the evolution of breast cancer, including the shift from radical mastectomies to more conservative approaches like lumpectomies and sentinel node biopsies. We talk more broadly about the role that radiation plays in modern oncology, how doses have changed, and how advancements in targeting tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding tissues have rendered side effects much more rare, certainly more rare than they were even 20 to 25 years ago. Sanjay talks about the role of low-dose radiation for inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and tendonitis, and how this approach is more widely used outside of the US, and why it's his hope and mine that becomes more adopted here in the US. We speak about the history and misconceptions of radiation exposure, including radiophobia, nuclear accidents, and early uses of radiation.
So without further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Sanjay Mehta. Sanjay, welcome back to Austin. Thank you, Peter. Pleasure to be here. I think this is the first time we're together not driving, right? I think so. Yeah, that is true. I don't know. Somehow we're going to resist the urge for most of this discussion to not talk about cars. Don't want to bore your audience. I know. It is called The Drive.
This is true.
So I feel like we will reserve the right to have some automotive discussions at the end. For listeners, Sanjay might be one of the most knowledgeable human beings on cars. He's also a very dangerous friend to have. Because he's always the bad one on the shoulder when you're contemplating a new set of wheels or a new something for your cars.
How is low-dose radiation used for treating injuries?
But in his other life, in addition to being the founder of MD Motorheads, right? That's right.
Yeah.
which is a Facebook group of doctors who are gearheads. We're about to crack 3,000 members. It's exploded. Yeah. That's awesome. So shout out to MD Motorheads. You're also a radiation oncologist, which we also spend some time talking about. Right. I guess we thought it would be a really fun idea to do a podcast for a couple of reasons. One is just the bread and butter of what you do as a radiation oncologist is a bit of a black box to many people, myself included, if I'm going to be completely truthful. Even training in surgical oncology, I feel like I had much more familiarity with the medical side of oncology than I did with the radiation side of oncology.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What advancements are being made in radiation oncology?
0:46–1:43
2
What are the misconceptions about radiation exposure?
1:43–3:32
3
How is low-dose radiation used for treating injuries?
3:32–5:55
4
What role does radiation play in breast cancer treatment?
5:55–11:51
5
How has radiation therapy evolved for prostate cancer?
11:51
6
What are the effects of radiation on patients with implants?
10:51–16:18
7
How can patients choose a high-quality radiation oncologist?
16:18–27:10
8
What challenges remain in brain cancer radiation therapy?
27:10–2:12:06
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Peter Attia Drive
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