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Local therapy
Palliative radiotherapy
A short course, sometimes a single sitting, aimed at a symptom rather than the disease.
Opinion here · delivered at a partner centre
What it is
Palliative radiotherapy treats a problem: pain from bone disease, bleeding, an airway or a nerve under pressure. Courses are short, often one to five sittings, and the dose is chosen for symptom relief, not for cure.
It is one of the most effective symptom treatments in oncology and one of the most under-used in India, largely because it is thought of as a last resort rather than a tool.
When it is used
- Bone pain that is not controlled by medicines
- Bleeding from a tumour
- Spinal cord compression, an emergency
- Pressure on an airway, a vessel or a nerve
- Brain metastases causing symptoms
How the decision is made
- How many sittings, a single fraction is frequently as effective for bone pain and far easier on a family that has to travel.
- Prior radiation to the same area, which limits what can be repeated.
- Whether the symptom is genuinely radiation-responsive, or better addressed another way.
At a partner radiation centre, usually as an outpatient.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- Symptom assessment and the indication opinion
- Urgent referral where cord compression is suspected, this is same-day
- Pain management alongside, not instead of
- Follow-up on whether the symptom actually improved
Performed and billed elsewhere
- Planning and delivery
- New back pain with leg weakness, numbness, or difficulty passing urine can mean spinal cord compression. That is an emergency, go to hospital the same day, do not wait for an appointment.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- Can this be done in one sitting?
- How long before I feel the difference?
- Have I had radiation to this area before?
- What do I take for the pain in the meantime?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Not sure this is the right option for you?
That is exactly what a second opinion is for. Bring what you have, we will tell you what is missing and what the alternatives actually are, in writing.