1. What is modern radiotherapy technology?
Modern radiotherapy technology is a local treatment method using radiotherapy to treat tumors. With the help of CT, MRI and other imaging technologies and computer technology, it takes three-dimensional, small field, cluster, fractionated and large dose irradiation to tumors. It requires professional positioning equipment, planning system and radiotherapy equipment (accelerator) and other hardware facilities. It also needs treatment process quality control, planning quality control, machine quality control and other software. The important thing is that its completion requires a professional technical team (radiotherapy physicians, physicists and technicians) to carry out complex management of the whole process of treatment. Does radiotherapy hurt people? Generally speaking, in the process of traditional radiotherapy, local radiotherapy reaction will certainly occur. With the development of radiotherapy technology and the continuous updating of radiotherapy equipment, the target area of radiotherapy is more accurate. If we use the analogy of current military equipment, radiotherapy has developed from mines, grenades and artillery to long-range functions like missiles, which can implement precise guidance, attack targets accurately, destroy tumors thoroughly, have little side effects, low risk of treatment, and have obvious advantages in solving cancer problems, which most patients can tolerate.
2. Does the patient have radiation after radiotherapy?
Clinically, many patients often worry that after radiotherapy, there will be radiation in their bodies, which will affect the health of their families. In fact, radiotherapy is the use of high-energy rays produced by medical electron linear accelerators to irradiate tumor tissues and destroy their genetic material DNA, so as to achieve the purpose of tumor treatment. Linear accelerators produce rays during treatment. Radiotherapy patients receive rays, not radioactive sources stay in the body, so there is no radioactive source on the patient. There is no radiation, and it will not affect the health of the family. Can cancer be cured without surgery? Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are three important means for the treatment of malignant tumors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 49% of cancers are cured by surgery, 40% by radiotherapy, and 11% by chemotherapy. Radiotherapy has the most advantages for tumors that can not be completely resected by surgery and potential tumor cells, especially for some tumors with limited surgical space, such as glioma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, etc; For moderate and low-grade malignant tumors, such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, etc., local control determines the success or failure of treatment, so surgery/radiotherapy is the main way; for some early tumors, such as early nasopharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, cervical cancer, lymphoma and skin cancer, 90% of patients can be cured by radiotherapy; Radiotherapy for cervical esophageal cancer and prostate cancer is similar to surgery, but superior to surgery in preserving organ function and cosmetology. Stereotactic radiotherapy for early lung cancer is comparable to surgery.
3. Does radiotherapy need to avoid certain foods?
Generally speaking, there is no need for special taboos. For patients with head and neck cancer, they should fast spicy food during radiotherapy, give high-calorie, high-protein diet, meat and vegetable combination, drink more water, and supplement vitamins properly. Of course, some tumors have some special requirements, such as digestive tract tumors or tumors that may cause damage to the digestive tract during treatment (such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, etc.), so we should try to reduce the burden of the digestive tract and avoid the damage of dry and hard stimulating food.
4. How many cycles does radiotherapy usually take?
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are different, chemotherapy can have several cycles or even more than a dozen cycles, and radiotherapy for the same part, generally a cycle, but this cycle is a little long, to last about 5-7 weeks, every Monday to Friday treatment, Saturday and Sunday rest. This classical radiotherapy mode is mainly based on the biological behavior of tumors, but with the development of precise radiotherapy, the protection of normal tissues is more adequate, the dose of tumor target is increased, and the radiotherapy mode of some tumors is also changing, the single dose is increased, the number of fractions is reduced, and the radiotherapy cycle is shortened.
5. Can radiotherapy be stopped in the middle?
In
clinical work, we often encounter some patients or family members who request to stop radiotherapy for a few days to alleviate the side effects of radiotherapy. In fact, the treatment mode of radiotherapy is based on scientific basis, mainly based on the biological behavior of tumors and normal tissue response, rather than we can do it arbitrarily. If the intermediate radiotherapy interval is too long, the local control rate of the tumor will be reduced and the recurrence rate will be increased, which is not the result that our doctors, patients and their families would like to see. Therefore, if there is no serious radiotherapy reaction or other complications, it is recommended that patients generally do not stop radiotherapy at will. When the radiotherapy has to be suspended in the above situation, the interval should be shortened as much as possible. It’s better not to exceed a week.
