Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy uses carefully measured doses of radiation to treat cancers (and sometimes other disorders).  Radiotherapy damages cancer cells in the part of the body being treated.  Although normal cells can also be damaged by the radiotherapy, they repair themselves more easily than cancer cells.

 

Radiotherapy can be given from outside the body (external beam radiotherapy) or inside the body (brachytherapy).  The type of radiotherapy most people receive uses beams of high energy x-rays, directed by a special treatment machine known as linear accelerators at exactly the point where the cancer is.  Radiotherapy is carefully planned so that it damages as few normal cells as possible. The treatment is painless and usually takes a few minutes to deliver.

 

Some of our radiotherapy equipment is very specialist and we are able provide some treatment therapies via a special Primatom machine which helps to ensure that healthy tissue around the area to be treated remains as unaffected as possible.

 

We will also be able to provide radiotherapy treatment using new and highly advanced technology with a TomoTherapy machine which will be available at our new cancer centre due to open in August of this year.

 

Most radiotherapy at NCCT is given daily, Monday to Friday.  Patients may attend the department for a single treatment or for a longer course of up to seven weeks dependent on the type of cancer and the treatment needed.

 

To find out more about radiotherapy treatment  View our Radiotherapy care pathway.