Radiotherapy

What is radiotherapy?

Radiotherapy is the use of high-energy particles or waves, such as x-rays, gamma rays or protons to destroy or damage cancer cells.

Sometimes radiation therapy is the only treatment a patient needs. At other times, it is only one part of a patient’s treatment pathway. For example, prostate cancer is often treated with radiotherapy alone, while breast cancer patients may be treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

What are the benefits of radiotherapy?

Radiotherapy is safe, non-invasive and painless. Each treatment takes only a few minutes, usually given over a number of days or weeks as an outpatient. This means that many patients are able to continue their normal routine. However, some people may develop side effects that are related to the region of the body treated. We give you full information and advice about this.

Types of radiotherapy

You can have radiotherapy in three ways:

• External radiotherapy: This is when a machine directs high-energy X-rays from outside the body into the cancerous tumour (lump).
• Internal radiotherapy: This is also called brachytherapy. It is when radioactive material is put inside the body near the cancerous tumour.
• Systemic radiotherapy: This is when radioactive drugs are given by mouth or put into a vein. The drugs then travel throughout the body.

The type of radiotherapy you get will depend on the type of cancer and where it is. Computerised personalised treatment plans and specialised quality assurance safety checks are undertaken before any treatment is started.

What cancers can radiotherapy be used for?

We offer radiotherapy treatments for patients with the following cancers:

• Benign skin conditions
• Biliary cancer
• Bowel cancer
• Brain tumours
• Breast cancer
• Cancer of unknown primary
• Cervical cancer
• Colon cancer
• Dupuytren’s contracture
• Heterotopic bone formation
• Keloids
• Laryngeal cancer
• Liver cancer
• Lung cancer
• Melanoma
• Malignant non-melanoma
• Nasal/sinus cancer
• Nasopharyngeal cancer
• Oesophageal cancer
• Oral/mouth cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Penile cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Renal cancer
• Salivary gland cancer
• Skin cancer
• Stomach cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Thyroid cancer

Is radiotherapy right for me?

Nuffield Health provides a modern and advanced radiotherapy service for the treatment of all common cancers. Our dedicated radiotherapy team (consisting of Consultant Clinical Oncologists, Radiographers, Clinical Scientists and other healthcare professionals) provide a personalised and high-quality service, ensuring that the highest standards of patient care are maintained throughout a patient’s treatment.