Radiotherapy at Cancer Centre London

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.

Pioneering treatments: Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator

Cancer Centre London was the first private hospital to provide advanced heart-sparing radiotherapy treatment using an Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator and Active Breathing Coordinator (ABC) with Response.

The Versa HD linear accelerator offers advanced radiotherapy techniques that enable high-precision treatment in managing a range of cancers in the head and neck, lung, breast and prostate. It can continually reshape the radiation beam to the fine contours of the tumour so a higher dose of radiotherapy can be delivered.

In addition, the department offers advanced breath-hold radiotherapy for L-sided breasts and lung cancers and uses advanced automated software to treat left-sided breast cancer and lung cancers using ABC. The machine was designed in collaboration with clinicians, so it is finely tuned to the patient’s needs.

Advanced technology

The planning of a patient’s treatment involves creating a three-dimensional representation of the area to be treated using a CT scanner, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) if indicated, and advanced virtual simulation software. These various imaging modalities allow us to target cancers with radiotherapy treatment with far greater accuracy and improved effectiveness.

Cancer Centre London’s modern and high-quality IGRT software allows soft tissue matching, giving us great confidence in ensuring that the target tumour volume is covered by the treatment beam while sparing normal surrounding tissues. Radiotherapy patients have In-Vivo Dosimetry where the dose delivered is measured during treatment delivery.

If you have any questions or would like more information, don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team.

Tattoo-less radiotherapy is now available at Cancer Centre London

New high-precision equipment at Cancer Centre London (CCL) has removed the need for permanent tattoo markings on patients prior to radiotherapy treatment.

Historically, tattoo markings have been the only way to accurately position patients for treatment. Before radiotherapy treatment can begin, patients have a CT scan, which allows treatment to be planned. They are then tattooed with small dots to allow accurate positioning for that treatment to begin. For many women, these radiotherapy tattoos are a constant and permanent reminder of their treatment and can be psychologically damaging. Tattoos are also problematic for people whose religious beliefs do not permit permanent ink to be marked onto the skin.

Now, however, for patients at CCL, a relatively new optical monitoring system called ‘AlignRT’ can provide a different method of positioning the patient, which does not rely on tattoos. Read more about tattoo-less radiotherapy at CCL here.

The choice to see who you want, when you want

We believe that our patients should have the choice the see the consultant they want to, and we will make sure we fit our specialist care around you.

Treatments are delivered by our experienced and dedicated multidisciplinary team in our peaceful, private and state-of-the-art facilities.

Whatever you choose, our expert team will support and guide you through your course of treatment, ensuring that you are fully informed about every aspect of your care.