Treatment by radiotherapy

Synonyms

  • Radiooncology
  • Irradiation
  • Tumour irradiation

Treatment

Today, high-quality cancer therapy is carried out in consultation between the relevant medical departments (surgical disciplines, internal oncology, radiotherapy) and the patient. In the beginning, a consensus must be reached on the achievable therapeutic goal. Important questions here are whether the tumor can be cured, whether there are symptoms that need to be treated, what is the patient’s willingness and ability to cope with stress, etc.

Once the therapeutic goal has been defined, a treatment plan should be drawn up that takes into account the current therapy recommendations of medical societies and ongoing study results. Possible therapy options are: As a rule, a combination of the individual therapy options is carried out. According to the site of action, three superordinate forms of therapy can be distinguished.

  • Tumor Surgery
  • Radiotherapy
  • Classical chemotherapy
  • Hormone Therapies
  • Antibody Therapies
  • Immunotherapy
  • Etc.
  • Surgery as a purely local therapeutic procedure
  • Radiotherapy as a regional therapy method
  • Drug therapy as a systemic therapy method (works in the whole body).

Depending on requirements, radiotherapy can be performed as a single therapy or in combination, or before or after the other therapies. If there is an indication for radiation, medical clarification must be provided beforehand with regard to the aim, implementation and possible side effects of the therapy. In order to ensure that the effective radiation dose also reaches the tumor area, radiation planning is carried out before the actual start of therapy.

For this purpose, computer tomography of the affected body region is regularly carried out today. From these image data, a three-dimensional model of the patient is calculated, in which the treatment region and the adjacent organs can be seen. This model is used to determine which area should be treated effectively with radiation therapy.

Furthermore, it is defined which organs must be spared from the radiation. Based on these specifications, a treatment plan is calculated that allows the therapeutic radiation dose to be placed with millimeter precision. With the exception of skin tumors, the treatment region is located a few centimeters below the body surface.

In the case of electrons, the area of greatest energy transfer is very close to the surface and drops steeply in depth. Photon beams have their maximum transmission one to two centimeters below half the skin. In order to effectively treat deeper regions without damaging the adjacent tissue, the desired therapy dose is divided over several radiation fields which meet in the therapy region.

Thus, the dose of each field is added to that of the remaining fields. This means that the maximum radiation dose is present in the tumor region and the radiation exposure drops significantly in the surrounding area. In order to ensure that the same region is treated at every session, aids are used with which the patient can be positioned safely and stably. Would you like to know which effects can occur as a long-term effect after irradiation?