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Radiotherapy uses radiation to treat cancers (and sometimes other conditions such as eczema).
It kills or damages cancer cells in the part of the body being treated. It can also damage normal cells nearby, but they recover more easily than cancer cells do.
Radiotherapy can be given from outside/external or inside/internal to the body...
External Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy from outside the body is called external beam radiotherapy. This is the type that most patients have.
A treatment machine aims high energy x-rays at exactly the place where the cancer is or has been removed from. Radiotherapy is carefully planned to treat only the areas affected.
Radiotherapy from inside the body
Some patients have radiotherapy from inside the body. This may be...
Internal Radiotherapy
A radioactive source (either wires, seeds or pellets) are put inside or close to the cancer inside the body. The source gives off radiation. It is left in place for a carefully measured period of time.
Radioactive liquid
For some cancers a radioactive drink or injection is given as treatment.
The information in the rest of this part of the website is about external beam radiotherapy. Internal radiotherapy is covered elsewhere.
