What Is Radiotherapy?
Radiation therapy or Radiotherapy is treatment with various forms of radiation to safely and effectively treat cancer and other diseases.
A radiation oncologist administers Radiotherapy to treat cancer, prevent cancer from growing, or relieve symptoms such as pain. Radiotherapy works by damaging cancer cells. Although normal cells are damaged by radiation, they can repair themselves, while cancer cells cannot. New techniques also allow doctors to target radiation better to protect healthy cells. Thus, the patient feels fewer side effects.
Sometimes Radiotherapy is the only treatment a patient needs. Other times, it is just part of the patient’s treatment. For example, doctors treat a woman with breast cancer with surgery, Radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, while prostate and laryngeal cancer are usually treated with Radiotherapy alone.
Doctors may also use Radiotherapy to make your primary treatment more effective. For example, you may be treated with Radiotherapy before surgery to help shrink cancer and make surgery easier. Sometimes they use Radiotherapy to destroy small amounts of cancer that may be left behind after surgery.
What Diseases Does It Treat?
Radiotherapy is applied in cancer types that can occur in almost any part of the body and approximately 50% of cancer patients. For some types of cancer, Radiotherapy is the only treatment. Radiotherapy is a treatment method that can be applied alone or in combination with surgery and drug therapy (“chemotherapy”), in which a full recovery can be achieved in many patients.
Radiotherapy;
- To shrink the tumor before surgery,
- In order to clean the cancer cells that may have remained at the microscope level in the body after surgery,
- As the primary treatment for the disease alone
- Without surgery, for direct treatment with chemotherapy,
- In some cases where it is impossible to cure the disease completely, Radiotherapy can be applied to reduce the patient’s complaints, such as pain and bleeding.
What are the Possible Side Effects of Radiotherapy?
Side effects are usually limited to the radiation site. Nausea may occur in patients receiving radiation in the abdomen, while radiation to the lower abdomen may trigger diarrhea. Other possible side effects include:
- Red, itchy, and peeling skin in the treatment area
- Tiredness
- Loss of appetite
- Hair loss in the treatment area
Always report any side effects you may experience to your healthcare team, even if they seem minor.
Why Should I Be Alone During Radiotherapy?
If radiotherapy technicians stayed in the treatment room with each patient, they would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation overall. While the patients are in the treatment room, they are constantly monitored by the radiotherapy technician with a video camera. If you need help during your treatment, speak up. The radiotherapy technician will stop the treatment and meet your needs.
What Happens To My Routine Medications?
Provide your doctor or radiation therapy nurse with a complete list of any prescription or over-the-counter medications you are currently taking. He or she will usually review your current medications that can be continued throughout your treatment. Your primary care doctor will still be able to prescribe medications you take for problems other than cancer.