Radiation therapy uses high energy X-rays, gamma rays or electrons to kill cancer cells in a specific part of the body. It does so by creating cellular shifts that destroy the cell’s ability to grow and divide, which eventually kills those cells. The difficulty with radiation therapy is it cannot distinguish between the healthy cells and the cancer cells.

Radiation therapy can be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy and surgery. The treatment method is often used as it can reach parts of the body that surgery cannot and causes fewer side effects. The process is as painless as a chest x ray.

The most common type of radiation therapy is external beam irradiation, is directed at a specific tumor. Total body irradiation can be used to treat certain types of leukemia, or as a procedure before a bone marrow transplant (BMT). Radiation is usually done through the outpatient clinic once or twice a day for several weeks.

If you have a cancer in the area of your head or neck, the radiation therapists (the trained staff that plan and deliver the radiation) need to make sure that you keep really still during treatment and also from one treatment to another. And ChCh Oncology uses the technology from Lord of the Rings! This was used to create Gollum. You lie on a bed with a head support behind you and keep really still. A therapist scans your head and neck (you don’t feel a thing) and the image of you comes up on a computer screen.

From there the ‘imprint’ of your face goes to another system and creates a Perspex mask that fits you perfectly. Holes are cut out in area of the eyes and mouth so you can see and breathe normally.

Because Radiation can damage your normal cells, a CT scan is taken of the area you’re going to be treated. If you had a mask made, you’ll need to wear this while being scanned. This ensures the therapists can give the maximum dose to the cancer while keeping the radiation to you normal cells as low as possible.

Once a scan has been taken of the area to be treated, it is sent to the Dosimetry Room – this is where all the planning happens! The Radiation Oncologist will outline on the scan exactly where he wants the radiation. The radiation therapist will work out how best to give the radiation. Sometimes this can take up to 10 hours, depending on how complex it is! Phew!

So now your plan is ready and has been checked no less than THREE times (they’re very careful). Now it’s time for you to hop onto the treatment bed. This ‘bed’ is very hard, but it needs to be hard so that you are likely to lay exactly the same each time. If you were on a cushion, there would be too much movement. The first treatment is usually the longest – the teams of therapists work together to make sure that you are set up correctly and you’re in the right place, to a millimeter of accuracy!

Depending on the treatment the Oncologist has prescribed, you may need to go in for treatment for anything between a week and six weeks. Remember again that the plans are made only for you and so take into account many factors to ensure you get the best possible treatment.

Once a week you will be seen by the Oncologist and the nurse to see how you are. Side effects are common from treatment and can range from a very minor ‘sunburn’ to a bad sunburn and other irritations, depending on where you are treated. You will have a follow-up appointment with the Oncologist again, usually 4-6 weeks after your last day of treatment