The role of radiotherapy
What is radiotherapy?
Radiotherapy is the use of ionising radiation in the treatment
of disease. As radiation passes through tissue it collides with
atoms along its path. Energy ids deposited and utilized by
molecules to inflict damage to the DNA of a cell. If this damage is
not repaired death of the cell may occur. Normal tissues usually
have a better repair mechanism than tumour cells which allow them a
better degree of protection
What use does radiotherapy have in ovarian
cancer?
Radiotherapy is not very often used in ovarian cancer. The main
reasons are that ovarian cancer is a chemosensitive cancer which
tends to respond well to chemotherapy.
Ovarian cancer is often found to have spread beyond the ovaries.
As a result a large area of the abdomen would need to be exposed to
radiotherapy to destroy the cancer. radiotherapy given over such a
large area may cause some damage to other organs in the abdomen
particularly the bowel and the bladder. Unfortunately this damage
may cause problems after the treatment has finished.
However radiotherapy maybe used when there is one specific area
of cancer. It might also be used in a palliative care setting to
help relieve pain or bleeding.
Radiotherapy is given in a hospital department and usually
consists of several sessions given once a day for a week or more
(it is not usually given at weekends). Each session tends to last a
few minutes although the preparation may take longer.
