What should you know about conventional radiotherapy?

It may be used to cure or control a tumour, reduce the chance of cancer returning in a treated area, or relieve symptoms. The purpose, dose pattern and treatment area depend on the cancer type, its position, previous treatments and the person's general health.

Planning usually includes a scan in the position used for treatment. A personalised support, mask or small skin marks may help reproduce that position. The clinical team maps the target and nearby organs, then calculates beam directions and doses before treatment begins.

During an external-beam session, the machine moves around you but does not touch you, and staff watch and communicate from outside the room. You do not feel radiation entering the body. External-beam treatment does not make you radioactive. Side effects build according to the treated area and can continue briefly after the course ends.

Attend review appointments and report symptoms early, because the team can adjust supportive medicines and check hydration, nutrition or skin care. Wash the treated skin gently, avoid rubbing treatment marks and use only products approved by the radiotherapy service. Maintain fluids and activity as tolerated, with rest when fatigue interferes with daily tasks.

Before starting, give the team a current medicine list and mention implanted devices, previous radiotherapy and any possibility of pregnancy. Ask whether treatment could affect fertility, swallowing, bowel habits, bladder function or driving, since advice depends on the body region.

Call the treatment team promptly if pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, swallowing difficulty or skin breakdown prevents eating, drinking, sleeping or normal movement. Fever, new confusion, uncontrolled bleeding and reduced urine output also need timely advice. Seek emergency help for severe breathing difficulty, sudden chest pain, a seizure, collapse, new one-sided weakness or swelling of the face or throat.

Ask about the goal of treatment, the area included, the planned schedule and likely short- and long-term effects for that location. Clarify how missed visits are handled, which medicines to continue, whom to call after hours and when follow-up imaging or review is expected.