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The choice of treatment regimen of radiation therapy
The choice of treatment regimen of radiation therapy
The sequence of a course of radiation therapy depends on the individual situation. Radiation therapy can be given immediately after surgery or after other treatments.
Here are the possible combinations of sequences of different methods of treatment with a course of radiotherapy:
Surgery - Chemotherapy - Radiation Therapy - Hormone Therapy.
Surgery - Radiation Therapy - Hormone Therapy.
Chemotherapy-target therapy or hormone therapy - surgery - radiation therapy - Hormone therapy.
It is possible that your doctor may prescribe you a slightly different sequence of treatments that can also be one of the options for treatment. But usually, if you assigned chemotherapy, she performed at the beginning after surgery. After chemotherapy, radiation therapy is conducted, not necessarily at the same time.
Usually, between the last dose of adriamycin and the beginning of the course of irradiation of the breast is one month. After other chemotherapy (taxol, taxotere, abraksan) can take a break in 2 - 3 weeks.
If in your treatment plan does not include chemotherapy, surgery is usually performed after radiotherapy. Time course of radiation therapy appointment usually depends on what type of radiotherapy you appointed:
External radiation - usually begins within three - six weeks after surgery.
Partial irradiation of the breast - usually begins immediately after the operation.
Intraoperative radiation therapy, carried out during surgery directly into the operating room as soon as the breast cancer is excised.
Before starting radiation therapy the doctor carefully develops a treatment plan that allows the patient to safely undergo a course of radiotherapy. Prior to radiation therapy is carried out weekly inspection of the patient, if necessary, minor adjustments. In addition, once a week a control pictures of the breast, which is exposed to radiation. In some cases, control is carried out blood tests.
The scheme of treatment - this is one of the most important problems in radiation therapy. Radiation therapy for breast and regional lymph nodes is carried out once a day. Five days a week for five - seven weeks. Partial breast irradiation is usually carried out twice a day for a week. Radiation exposure of metastases is done daily for two - three weeks.
Why is radiation therapy lasts for so long
Radiation therapy in small doses every day helps to prevent damage to normal cells of the breast. Small doses of radiation, instructs the patient in a long time, can tolerate exposure to normal cells with fewer losses than if the radiation would be received at once as a whole dose in one - twice.
Radiation therapy is much more efficient when the cells can grow and divide. This stretched the time a course of radiation increases the chance that the radiation will kill cancer cells when they grow up.
For the best effect of radiation therapy should strictly follow the plan of the designated exposure. Radiation therapy is very effective when it is held for a long time and is completely finished.
If the patient says it is too rough for skin reaction to radiation, your doctor may not interrupt the course of several days of treatment. In addition, it is possible to miss a session of irradiation, if you can not come to the medical center because of bad weather. In this case, the missed days will simply be added to the main course.
