My name is Vincent Khoo and I’m a consultant clinical oncologist working at the Royal Marsden
Hospital. Radiotherapy is a form of cancer treatment.
This cancer treatment uses high-energy x-ray beams
that are delivered to stop the cells from growing.
This treatment can be used both in terms of cure
as well as to provide pain control. The radiation beams affect the cells’ ability
to multiply. It can affect both cancer cells and normal
tissues alike. The main method that we use
to prevent normal tissues from being excessively damaged
is by shaping the fields of radiation to match the shape of the tumour in the patient.
We often give the radiation in small packages and these are often given Monday to Friday
for a period that can vary between five to eight weeks.
By doing it in this manner, the radiation is better tolerated by the patient,
so that each day they recover from the dose given the day before
and are ready for their next treatment. In general radiotherapy treatment lasts between
10 to 20 minutes depending on the technique. The patient usually does not feel anything
when they receive radiation treatment. It is very much like lying down and having
a plain x-ray done. When they arrive at the department they will
be greeted by our staff and be given a treatment slot.
They will then be shown into the changing rooms,
where they will remove their clothes and put on the dressing gown.
At the appropriate time they will be guided into the treatment room
and asked to lie down on their back. Prior to delivery of radiation treatment,
our therapeutic radiographers will align the patient
according to the tattoos that were placed during the simulation session.
These tattoos are aligned by laser. After this is completed the therapeutic radiographers
will leave the room. They will also give the patient a monitor
so that if there are were any difficulties during treatment,
the patient can simply press the monitor and the treatment will stop.
At treatment we will inform the patient that the treatment bed will be moving in position.
There will be instructions when each treatment beam is about to start or when it’s finished.
After completion of the radiotherapy treatment beams
the radiographers will re-enter the room and help the patient off the treatment bed.
The patients are then allowed to get dressed, given their next appointment for the next
day and are able to go home.
Most of the side effects during treatment are usually manageable,
both by prior knowledge of what they are and they can be as simple as just tiredness,
just simply by coming for treatment every day over a long period of time.
Or they may have a dry mouth or mild episodes of sickness or even loose bowel motions.
Most of these side effects can be managed quite simply by tablets or medications.
There is always the potential for long-term side effects
after any course of radiation treatment. Where we minimise these long-term effects
are through careful planning and evaluation of where the doses are delivered.
Areas that need more radiation dose, such as within the cancer, will get them.
And areas where we would like to avoid dose, such as important organs and structures,
we can substantially reduce the dose, often by more than 50%.
These new developments in radiotherapy have allowed our patients to be cured and
to lead normal lives.
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