Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is the treatment of disease using high-power X-Rays and this department covers the Planning and delivery of this type of therapy. Professionals called Radiotherapy Radiographers give your treatment. At present we have 6 Linear Accelerators and a Deep/Superficial X-Ray machine for treating people. We also have 2 machines that can be used to treat internally and have recently started to provide a prostate brachytherapy service.
Planning (Pre-Radiotherapy) The Planning or Simulator is where sophisticated X-Ray equipment can be used to plan patients' treatment. Some simple treatments can be started in a day but most require a few days to several weeks before treatment can start, depending on complexity.
The Mould Room This is where many people with Head and Neck disease come for custom-made plastic treatment shells to aid accuracy of treatment. This usually involves at least 2 visits.
CT Planning This is where the treatment area is initially planned using a special high-speed wide-bore CT scanner. Treatments usually follow several weeks later once an individual plan has been produced.
Treatment Once a patient has started treatment they will usually be allocated to one of our 5 Linear Accelerators (Linac for short) or Deep/ Superficial X-Ray Units. Treatment courses can range from 1 attendance to 37 and patients will be told the duration before they start – normally one course is given per day and there is no treatment on weekends but there are exceptions. Radiotherapy staff will work bank holidays if patients treatment cannot be stopped for that length of time. Radiotherapy does NOT hurt and patients feel and see nothing from the machine whilst it is switched on. An average treatment session lasts about 10 minutes of which the majority of the time is spent placing the patient in the correct position for treatment.
The treatment beam is usually on for less than a minute at a time. The Radiographers leave the room to treat the patient but there is NO door so they are not shut in. You are monitored by closed-circuit TV at all times. Whilst undergoing treatment the patient will usually be seen by their doctor or review Radiographer, either weekly or fortnightly, although if they do have any problem or queries in between times that their treatment radiographers cannot resolve, patients can be seen outside these times. |
