Radiotherapy Flashcards
What is radiotherapy?
The use of high-energy rays to treat disease
How does radiotherapy work?
By destroying cancer cells in the area that is being treated
Is radiotherapy given internally or externally?
Can be either
What is done in external radiotherapy?
High-energy x-rays are aimed at the affected area using a large machine
What is done in internal radiotherapy?
Radioactive material is placed inside the body
Can normal cells be damaged by radiotherapy?
Yes
What is the result of normal cells be damaged by radiotherapy?
Can cause side effects
How does the effect of radiotherapy differ in normal cells compared to cancer cells?
Cancer cells cannot repair themselves after radiotherapy, but normal cells can
What is it called when chemotherapy is given alongside radiotherapy?
Chemoradiation, or chemoradiotherapy
What effect might chemotherapy drugs have on radiotherapy?
May make cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy
What is the down side of giving chemotherapy and radiotherapy together?
Can make the side effects of treatment worse
What are the main types of radiotherapy?
- External beam radiotherapy
- Internal radiotherapy
What are the types of external beam radiotherapy?
- Conformal radiotherapy
- Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)
- Image-guided radiotherapy
- 4C radiotherapy
- Stereotactic radiotherapy
- Total body irradiation
- Intraoperative radiotherapy
What does conformal radiotherapy use?
A device inside the radiotherapy machine to shape the radiotherapy beams to fit the treatment area
What is conformal radiotherapy used to treat?
Many types of cancer
What does IMRT do?
Shapes the radiotherapy beams, and allows different doses of radiotherapy to be given to different parts of the treatment area
What is the advantage of IMRT?
It means lower doses of radiotherapy are given to healthy tissue surrounding the tumour
What is the importance of the reduction in radiotherapy to healthy tissue around in the tumour in IMRT?
- It reduces the risk of immediate and long-term side effects
- May allow higher doses of radiotherapy to be given to the tumour
What is the result of IMRT having a reduced risk of damage to healthy tissue and side effects on the tumours is used to treat?
It is often use to treat tumours that are close to important organs and structures
What kind of cancers is IMRT mainly used to treat?
- Breast cancer
- Head and neck cancer
- Anal cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Gynaecological cancer
- Lung cancer
dunno why i wrote cancer after every single one lol obvs its treating cancer its in the cancer care deck
What is volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT)?
A newer way of giving IMRT, where the radiotherapy moves around the person while treatment is being given
What is the advantage of VMAT?
- Shortens treatment time
- Uses lower dose of radiation
What is image-guided radiotherapy?
Where images are taken just before each treatment
What is the purpose of image-guided radiotherapy taking images just before each treatment?
It allows for comparison with images taken during the planning scan, and adjustment of to the treatment area