Radiotherapy

What is radiotherapy?

Radiotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses precise and carefully planned doses of radiation to disrupt and damage the cancer pathway. It uses high-energy particles or waves, such as X-rays, gamma rays or protons, to destroy or damage cancer cells.

Sometimes radiotherapy is the only treatment that you need. At other times, radiotherapy is only part of your treatment. For example, prostate cancer is often treated with radiotherapy alone. Breast cancer may be treated with surgery, chemotherapy (which uses drugs to destroy breast cancer cells) and radiotherapy.

What are the benefits of radiotherapy?

Radiotherapy is safe, non-invasive, painless and effective. External radiotherapy only takes a few minutes and you usually have treatment over several days or a few weeks as an outpatient. This means that many people can continue their normal routine. Some people may develop side effects in the area of the body that is treated. We give you full information and advice about this.

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. We offer radiotherapy treatments for patients with the following cancers and conditions:

• Benign Skin Conditions 
• Biliary Cancer 
• Bowel Cancer 
• Brain Tumours 
• Breast Cancer 
• Cancer of Unknown Primary 
• Cervical 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 
• Pancreatic Cancer 
• Penile Cancer 
• Plantar Fasciitis 
• Prostate Cancer
• Renal Cancer 
• Salivary Gland Cancer 
• Stomach Cancer
• Testicular Cancer 
• Thyroid Cancer

Methods 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.

How you have radiotherapy depends on the type of cancer and where it is in the body. Your consultant will discuss this with you.