Procedures and treatment
- A specialist cancer doctor is known as a radiotherapist or radiation oncologist. In this guide we will refer to him/her as an radiation oncologist. The radiation oncologist will plan and oversee your treatment, which will be carried out by radiation therapists.
In addition, the team looking after you may include nurses, health care assistants, specialist nurses, counsellors and dietitians, according to your needs during your treatment.
- Although the radiation affects both cancer and normal cells, it has a greater effect on the cancer cells. Treatment aimed at cure will give the highest possible dose of radiation to the cancer area (within safe limits) to attempt to kill all the cancer cells.
Sometimes smaller doses are used, where the aim is to reduce the size of a tumor and/or relieve symptoms.
Every course of radiation therapy is designed to suit the particular needs of the person receiving it, so you will usually be asked to make a preliminary visit to the treatment center to have your course of treatment planned. The radiation oncologist and radiation therapists will do this (in conjunction with x-rays and scans, using a machine called a simulator).
Your skin will be marked with coloured pens to define where you will have your treatment. In addition, some minute permanent marks will be made using a special dye and a tiny pin prick.
Radiation therapy is the treatment of cancer with radiation. This can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the nature of your cancer.
The most commonly used method is called external beam therapy (from a machine outside the body), which directs radiation at your tumor.
