Radiotherapy

Videos relating to preparing for Radiotherapy

You will as part of your decision making process have spoken to the clinicians at Torbay Hospital and will have received copious leaflets explaining things.

However like most people only a small part of it will have been initially digested.

In order to help take away the mystique around what will happen we have posted a number of videos generated within various NHS Trusts (as Torbay currently don’t have any):-

• In the initial CT Planning Session
• What happens in the period between your Planning session and your first treatment (the section dealing with the Prostate is fascinating).
• The actual Radiotherapy Treatment Sessions

These are what typically happens, although there may be slight differences between Health Trusts.  It is therefore vital that you follow the instructions given at Torbay.  Specifically, when it comes to the bowel and bladder preparation times, quantities etc. Also you may have an intravenous contrast agent, which is used to help delineate the pelvic nodes when these are to be treated with raditherapy, this is not covered in any of the videos

In the first video from East & North East Hertfordshire Trust it deals better with the issue of Modesty.  As you will keep your underwear on, you just have to pull it down a little.

The second video from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust deals with the period between the planning scan and the first treatment, a really interesting one.

The third video features Radiothaerapy from the Plymouth NHS Trust the machine shown is different to the one at Torbay however it works in the same way.

The last video from the North Central and East London Cancer Alliance features a different machine in as much as the linear accelerator is a Varian True Beam where as in Torbay it is an Eleckta machine (however they work in a similar way).

We hope you find them informative, interesting and reassuring.

Prostate Radiotherapy planning – East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Radiotherapy planning –  Somerset NHS Foundation Truat

Radiotherapy treatment to the prostate and prostate bed (University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust)

Receiving your prostate radiotherapy treatment – Patients and clinicians explain preparation and radiotherapy for prostate cancer treatment at hospitals in the North Central and East London Cancer Alliance area