Brachytherapy or internal radiation is where highly radioactive material is kept near or inside cancer to eradicate it. By doing so, brachytherapy delivers radiation directly to the tumor without any spillage to the neighboring organs. This highly targeted form of radiotherapy is mainly used to treat cervical cancer. However, it’s also used to treat cancers in other regions such as head and neck, prostate, food pipe, soft tissue tumors on the arms and legs, liver, lung, and brain.
How do we give internal radiation to cervix cancer?
The procedure of giving internal radiation is different depending upon the body part. In this article, let’s discuss how to deliver internal radiation to cervical cancer.
The patient has to be prepared the day before the procedure. She will be asked to take light meals and no food or drinks after dinner the previous day. The next day, a rectal enema is done to empty her bowels. The nurse might clean the genitals before the procedure and remove any hair over the genital region.
There are three parts to the procedure.
The first part happens in the operation theatre. Inside the OT, the doctor inserts slender tubes into the uterine cavity and vagina under spinal anesthesia.
The second part of the procedure happens in the CT scan room and the planning room. There, she will be subjected to a CT scan with the applicators inside the uterus. Next, the doctor will mark the part of the cervix that needs to be radiated on CT sections. Then, after planning, which might take a few hours, the doctor will shift her to the brachytherapy suite for internal radiation.
The third part of the procedure happens in the brachytherapy suite. There, the applicator tubes inserted into the uterus are connected to the brachytherapy machine. While undergoing the radiation, she would not experience any pain, vibration, or heat. She will not experience anything at all while undergoing the treatment. It’s that simple!
After the procedure is over, the applicators are removed from her body, and she is usually sent back home the same day.
Why do we do internal radiation in cervix cancer?
We can give the total radiation dose required to eradicate the tumor ‘safely’ only by combining external and internal radiation. However, if one tries to provide the total radiation dose by just one type of radiation, in that case, it causes adverse effects on the neighboring normal organs like the urinary bladder and rectum.