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Local therapy
Radiotherapy
Targeted radiation to a defined area, planned in millimetres.
Opinion here · delivered at a partner centre
What it is
Radiotherapy delivers radiation to a mapped volume of tissue. Everything about it is geometry: what is inside the field, what is deliberately outside it, and how the dose is divided across days.
Modern planning exists to spare what is next to the target. Which technique is appropriate depends on the site, the shape of the disease and what sits nearby, not on which machine a hospital happens to have bought.
When it is used
- As definitive treatment, alone or with chemotherapy
- After surgery, to treat the area the tumour was removed from
- Before surgery, to shrink disease or make an operation cleaner
- To relieve pain, bleeding or pressure, palliative radiotherapy, often a very short course
How the decision is made
- Whether radiotherapy is indicated at all, and what it is expected to add over the alternatives.
- Modality and dose-fractionation, how much, over how many sittings.
- Sequencing against surgery and systemic therapy. Order matters, and getting it wrong is difficult to undo.
- Toxicity anticipation: what will be in the field, and what needs protecting or preparing first.
Simulation, planning, delivery and on-treatment review all happen at the partner radiation centre. KPCIRC does not operate a linear accelerator and carries no radiation licensing.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- The indication, modality and sequencing opinion, in writing
- Pre-radiation dental clearance for head-and-neck cases, mandatory, and booked before the referral leaves the building
- Nutrition and swallowing support through treatment
- Skin and mucositis care
- Post-radiation surveillance and late-effects screening
Performed and billed elsewhere
- Simulation and planning scans
- Every treatment sitting
- On-treatment review at the radiation centre
- Any brachytherapy or specialised technique
- Tell the radiation team about every medicine you take, including anything herbal or ayurvedic. Some interact with radiation and with the medicines used to manage its effects.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- What exactly is inside the radiation field, and what is close to it?
- How many sittings, over how many weeks, and can I travel daily for that?
- What are the effects during treatment, and what are the effects that appear years later?
- Do I need dental clearance before we start?
- Will this affect any future surgery in the same area?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Oral, head & neck cancer
Mouth, tongue, cheek, gum, throat, voice box and salivary gland cancers
Cervical cancer
Cancer of the cervix
Prostate cancer
Cancer of the prostate gland
Lung & thoracic cancer
Non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, mesothelioma, thymic tumours
Breast cancer
Including hormone-receptor positive, HER2-positive and triple-negative disease
Brain & CNS tumours
Glioma, meningioma, and other central nervous system tumours
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.