radiotherapy centre - nutritious food

How Important Is Good Nutrition For Post-Cancer Recovery?

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Cancer treatment does not start nor end at the radiotherapy centre but is often a fairly lengthy process both leading up to treatment and once you are declared cancer-free. In that sense, it is more akin to a marathon rather than a sprint.

Because of this, whilst the most critical part of your cancer treatment will be the radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery prescribed, the preparations following diagnosis and the regime for recovery following are also incredibly vital parts of ensuring long-term health.

A big part of that is nutrition. Whilst a balanced, healthy diet can help in some respects to reduce the risk of cancer to begin with, where nutrition perhaps matters most is in recovering from cancer.

Good nutrition and a healthy diet help you to regain your strength and energy quicker, rebuild damaged and destroyed tissue from the procedures and treatments undertaken to remove any cancerous matter, and have positive impacts on both your physical and mental health.

Patterns Rather Than Prescriptions

Everyone who is recovering from cancer will have a different experience and no two healing schedules will be quite alike. As long as you are making overall progress in your recovery, it is natural for some people to spend longer recovering than others.

Generally, once your treatment is finished, so too will most of the side effects that relate to eating and nutrition. You might notice actively that your appetite improves soon after cancer treatment, but in other cases, it can take time.

The doctors involved with your treatment will let you know of any additional dietary requirements you may have following treatment, but for the most part, you can continue to follow a healthy diet following cancer treatment and it will help boost recovery.

What is important to note given the near-endless advice regarding what people should and should not eat following cancer treatment is that what matters is not the individual foods you eat but the overall patterns in your diet.

This means that much like how a restrictive diet you do not follow will not improve your health, having a healthy diet overall but with some flexibility to eat out or occasionally eat something less than healthy will not impact your recovery.

A Diet For Prevention Is A Diet For Recovery

The golden rule for setting up a recovery diet is that anything that helps to reduce the risk of cancer will also aid in cancer recovery.

This allows for a remarkable level of flexibility, as almost any healthy diet will generally help to reduce the risk of cancer as it helps people to maintain a healthy weight, reduce the cell damage that is linked to cancer and provide a boost of energy needed to get active.

Generally, when it comes to cancer prevention, the two main types of ingredients that should be included are foods rich in fibre, such as wholegrains, oats and brown rice, and dairy products or dairy alternatives such as soy, coconut and almond milk.

Both reduce the risk of bowel cancer, the former through several processes in the digestive system and the latter through calcium.

Fibre also has the side effect of helping you feel fuller for longer, which makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight, which means that foods high in fibre are also part of most healthy and balanced diets.

Besides these, fruits and vegetables, and healthy sources of protein such as chicken, turkey, fish, lentils and beans form the foundations of a balanced diet and contribute towards overall recovery following cancer treatment.

Avoiding red meat (such as pork and beef) processed meat (such as bacon, sausages and burgers), foods rich in sugar and foods high in calories in general will help aid in recovery and naturally guide you towards food that improves overall health, which in turn helps with recovery and reducing the risk of cancer in the future.

Benefits To Mind As Well As Body

One of the biggest benefits people note when they look towards a post-cancer diet is how empowering it feels and how much control it gives people during and after their recovery.

It is not a panacea, and a lot of reporting on the relationship between foods and cancer risk is unhelpful because it focuses on individual ingredients, but it is an active step people can take to give themselves the best quality of life.

It also helps improve your mood and well-being, both of which are critical parts of cancer prevention in their own right but also can help boost energy levels and provide motivation to keep active, which is the other big step in helping prevent cancer.

Radiotherapy treatment - Patient Radiation therapy mask

Radiotherapy Treatment Success Better For Non-Smokers

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The increased risk of developing cancers among smokers has been widely publicised over the years, but research has found that those who quit their habit are also more likely to achieve success with their radiotherapy treatment. 

Smokers can develop long-term problems during treatment

Cancer Research UK has recently published research showing that smokers have a greater chance of developing long-term problems when undergoing treatment for breast cancer. 

Radiotherapy is a standard treatment given to cancer patients, as it has been shown to be one of the most effective means of destroying cancer cells and reducing the risk of it returning. 

However, there is a very small chance that other tissue, such as the lungs, can get an incidental dose of the radiotherapy. This could result in patients developing complications from their treatment, such as radiation-induced lung cancer.

However, Carolyn Taylor, professor of Oncology at The University of Oxford, reassured patients that “for people who don’t smoke, the risks of developing a radiation-induced lung cancer are very, very small”.

This is unless they are long-term smokers who do not give up when they start their breast cancer treatment, as their risk is much higher. 

Taylor’s team of researchers found that the risk of dying from lung cancer due to their treatment for non-smokers is less than one per cent. Therefore, it is much safer for them to go ahead with the treatment to eradicate breast cancer and give them the best chance of survival. 

However, this risk increases to up to six per cent for smokers that carry on with their habit during treatment. 

Quitting can reduce this risk

The study also showed that long-term smokers who are able to quit before their radiotherapy can substantially reduce their risk of developing radiation-induced lung cancer. 

It could even fall to as low as those who have never smoked before, which is why it is really beneficial for smokers to try and break their habit before they undergo radiotherapy if they can. 

Taylor recognises that this could be too much to ask from lots of smokers, as receiving a breast cancer diagnosis is already a “really stressful time”. 

She added: “For long-term smokers, trying to give up smoking just after being diagnosed with cancer strikes me as a really big ask.”

Therefore, it is important they seek out the available smoking cessation resources if they do think they are able to do it, as it could have a big impact on their future health. 

How the Tobacco and Vapes Bill could help

The government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which was introduced in parliament on November 5th 2024, could help current and future patients have the most successful cancer treatment possible. 

It will do this by extending the indoor smoking ban to certain outdoor settings, such as children’s playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals, and preventing the sale of tobacco products to anyone who is 15 or younger this year to create a smoke-free generation. 

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “Unless we act to help people stay healthy, the rising tide of ill-health in our society threatens to overwhelm and bankrupt our NHS. Prevention is better than cure.”

Smoking alone kills 80,000 people in the UK every year, and more than 100 GP appointments an hour are attributed to smoking. 

When it comes to cancer, two in three long-term smokers are likely to die from a smoking-related disease and tobacco smoke causes 27 per cent of cancer deaths in the UK. 

It is the cause of at least 16 types of cancer, as well as other conditions, such as heart disease. It is also the biggest cause of lung cancer in the country, accounting for six in ten cases. 

The longer someone smokes, the greater risk they have of poor health, which is why it is essential not to put off quitting, as one day they might need radiotherapy for breast cancer and smoking will increase their risk of developing lung cancer from their treatment. 

Improvements in radiotherapy

Although smokers might find this research worrying, the good news is that radiotherapy treatments are improving all the time. Not only is the course of medication becoming much shorter, so patients do not have to undergo long, difficult treatments, but it is also much more targeted.

Therefore, the likelihood of the radiation hitting healthy tissue is much lower than it used to be. 

Stereotactic radiosurgery, such as GammaKnife, works by targeting the tumour from different directions. This specific aim means there is a reduced chance of it passing through other cells, and it has very little impact on any tissue it does hit. 

These highly-focused beams of energy are typically used to treat small tumours, as they are much more targeted. 

This form of treatment would be a good choice for smokers, therefore, limiting the impact on radiation on their already unhealthy lungs.

first linear accelerator technology IMRT - radiotherapy treatment

How Can Linac-Based Radiotherapy Help Treat Patients

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Some patients who need to undergo radiotherapy will be told about linear accelerators, which are also known as linacs.

These machines provide external beam radiation to treat cancer patients, as they deliver targeted rays into the patient’s tumour. 

How do linac machines work?

Linac-based radiotherapy works by using high-energy X-Rays. They speed up electrons and conform them to the tumour’s shape and size. These then collide with a heavy metal target, which produces the X-Rays. 

When these are aimed at the cancer, they destroy the invasive cells but, as they are the right size and shape and specifically targeted, they do not harm the healthy ones. 

Therefore, it is effective at keeping surrounding tissue safe, which is why it is a popular choice of radiotherapy treatment. 

It can be used on all areas of the body, with the patient lying on a moveable couch. Lasers make sure they are in the correct position, so the radiation is beamed at the right area exactly.

The X-Rays come out of an area of the machine called a gantry, and this can be rotated around the couch, so that the X-Rays can be delivered to the tumour from a number of angles, helping to fully attack the cancerous cells. 

The amount of time the patient is in the accelerator will be down to their oncologist, who will also determine the dose they need. Once they have prescribed the treatments, the treatments are usually carried out by radiation therapists. 

At the same time, the number of treatments they require will depend on the severity of their cancer and how much radiation therapy it requires. Typically, patients have their treatment spread over a course of a few weeks. 

Although patients will hear a buzzing noise while the accelerator is on, they will not feel any pain during the treatment. 

What is it used to treat?

Linac-based radiation therapy is commonly used on malignant tumours, as it can deliver high doses to the cancerous cells. It is also used for benign lesions, with electrons being beams being used on superficial lesions.

They can also be used for Total Skin Electron Therapy (TSET), which treats cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. This condition, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, involves lymphomas appearing on the skin all over the body. 

Linac is also used in Total Body Irradiation (TBI), which provides the body with a low dose of immunosuppression, and is typically used during bone marrow transplantation procedures. 

Patients undergoing prone breast irradiation may also need linac radiation, as this helps reduce radiation toxicity to the lung and heart by letting the patient lie on their front for the treatment. 

Prostate treatment with a hydrogel space also requires a linear accelerator technology. This procedure involves injecting liquid Hydrogel between the prostate and the rectum so there is extra space in this area, reducing the toxicity from the radiation. 

Side effects of linac radiotherapy?

Like all radiotherapy, linac-based treatments come with side effects. 

These can include irritated, dry, red or itchy skin at the site of the radiation; loss of appetite or difficulty swallowing; bladder irritation and urinary problems; changes in bowel habits; headaches and fatigue; and low immunity due to it affecting bone marrow function. 

What other types of treatments are available?

While linear accelerator radiation treatments are very effective at destroying cancer cells, there are other procedures available. 

For instance, internal radiation therapy might be a better option for some patients, such as those with head, neck, breast, cervix, prostate and eye cancers. As these can be harder to treat in a linac machine, oncologists could prescribe internal radiation therapy, such as brachytherapy, instead.

Alternatively, stereotactic radiotherapy or radiosurgery is a better option for those with brain tumours, as this involves higher doses of radiation in a reduced number of sessions. 

As well as brain cancers, it can be used to treat other small tumours with millimetric accuracy, whether they are primary or secondary cancers. 

Doctors might also suggest Arc Therapy or Rapid Arc Therapy (VMAT) instead, as this is another effective treatment for cancer.

This involves a radiation beam moving around the tumour in an arc, automatically changing the dose as it moves. Subsequently, this ensures healthy cells receive as minimal an amount of radiation exposure as possible. 

Treatment times for this form of therapy is typically only a few minutes, which means patients can be treated more quickly and avoid nasty side effects.

Radiotherapy Treatment - MRI Scan

Study Shows MRI Helps Guide Glioblastoma Radiotherapy

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Radiotherapy can be used against various forms of cancer, but some of the most cutting-edge and precise uses involve brain tumours.

There are very good reasons for this. Brain tumours vary in their impact, as some are benign and simply need to be shrunk to prevent secondary problems such as pressure on the brain or nerves. Others are cancerous and radiotherapy, alongside chemotherapy and surgery, can extend the life of patients by varying amounts.

With any form of radiotherapy treatment, calibrating the right dose and hitting the right targets is vital. This is especially true when targeting a brain tumour, given the dire consequences of damaging healthy brain tissue nearby, but there is also the general consideration that the less radiation there is, the less severe the side effects.

For this reason, anything that helps increase the precision of the radiotherapy, either in its delivery or in the preparation and assessment of treatment will help ensure it is given in the right places, in the correct doses and that this is linked to the correct supplementary treatment.

The Importance Of Tackling Glioblastomas

In the cases of benign tumours, this can help with the process of enabling the patient to live a normal life. For those with cancerous tumours, the challenge is greater, especially in cases such as glioblastomas, aggressive tumours arising from glial cells that show up in the brain and spinal cord and can, if unchecked, kill sufferers within months.

With the best treatment, however, some glioblastoma patients can live for up to five years, so there are clear benefits to be gained from good treatment. Moreover, as they are the most common form of brain tumour, accounting for 32 per cent of all cases, there is plenty of incentive to develop treatments to improve outcomes for patients.

For that reason, new research in the United States has indicated that patients may benefit from a novel new use of MRI scans to help guide radiotherapy on glioblastomas, with the two being delivered simultaneously to help provide a new method of analysis.

MRI, Radiotherapy and Real-Time Data

The study on this approach was carried out by researchers at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Centre in the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. The research was published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology – Biology – Physics, as well as being presented at a meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

What this showed was that having daily MRI scans delivered alongside the radiation therapy could help guide radiotherapy treatment more precisely, as well as keep track of developments, which meant oncologists could make adjustments daily to treatment when necessary to deal with the very latest developments and tackle them accordingly.

Known as MRI-linac, the method produced scan results that matched the normal standard MRI scans carried before and after courses of treatment in 74 per cent of cases.

In the other 26 per cent of instances, the MRI-linac system projected tumour growth when in fact it shrank. However, this does mean that, crucially, there were no instances where a tumour increased in size without the MRI-linac predicting this would happen. 

Why The System Could Enhance Radiotherapy For Glioblastomas

Consequently, an effective way to utilise the system is to use contrast imaging as a follow-up means of confirming if a tumour is indeed growing, which, the study suggests, will be the case in three-quarters of indicated cases.

Lead author Dr Kaylie Cullison, said: “Our study shows that these daily scans can serve as an early warning sign for potential tumour growth.”

The key finding was that using MRI scans is more effective in spotting developments than standard imaging techniques, helping offer better treatment guidance and therefore paving the way for better treatment. The research team has concluded that this could eventually become the standard approach for using radiotherapy on glioblastomas.

At present, this is not the standard way for treating glioblastomas, with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Centre being unique in providing this approach, but that may change over time. However, it adds to an array of new techniques, technological developments and ongoing research that could enhance the care of patients.

Radiotherapy Technology Keeps Progressing

Many of these developments have occurred in specific areas, such as the development of ever more precise gamma knife technology. Invented by Swedish scientist Lars Leksell in 1967, the invention has been further refined, first with the second version in 1975 and several times subsequently as the technology has advanced.

If you need radiotherapy, our staff will guide you through not just what you can expect in a course of treatment, but explain how various developments have enabled patients to enjoy better outcomes as a result of increasingly better technology, diagnostics and understanding of tumour treatments.

ExacTrac Dynamic - first linear accelerator technology IMRT

How ExacTrac Dynamic Technology Improves the Effectiveness of Radiotherapy

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When a cancer patient undergoes radiotherapy, it is essential that the tumour is targeted precisely. This not only ensures a greater chance of killing the cancerous cells, but reduces the likelihood of healthy cells being destroyed instead. 

ExacTrac Dynamic technology helps improve radiotherapy outcomes by offering high-tech image guidance so that the tumour is targeted more accurately.

So, how does it work?

What is ExacTrac Dynamic technology?

ExacTrac Dynamic works by accounting for the continuous motion of a patient, such as how their body moves when they are breathing or how their prostate rises if they pass gas. 

Although these fluctuations of movement might be small, it is essential they are accounted for when implementing radiation therapy so that the exact location is targeted. 

To be as precise as possible, external markers on the skin are typically used, together with imaging scans, so the radiation experts know where to position the beams for the best chance of targeting the tumour. 

However, ExacTrac Dynamic provides real-time information about the patient, such as their temperature, movement, anatomy and shape, through high-resolution surface and thermal imaging. This gives doctors the most accurate data they need to increase the success of the treatment. 

How does it work?

More than 300,000 3D surface points are acquired from the patient and a 4D thermal camera provides information about the patient’s heat signature based on this reconstructed 3D image of their body. 

This means doctors are able to gather as much information as possible about the patient’s body in real-time, allowing them to more accurately target the radiation beams. 

How effective is ExacTrac Dynamic?

According to a recent study, which was published in J Appl Clin Med Phys, ExacTrac Dynamic “with its new optical/thermal imaging system is an efficient tool for positioning and monitoring during radiation therapy”. 

As well as being highly effective, it is favourable among patients as it allows them to experience more targeted treatments. Therefore, their radiation therapy sessions might be shorter and they may not need as many to fully target the tumour. 

This means the risk of experiencing short- and long-term side effects of radiotherapy can be reduced. This can have a big impact on a patient’s mental and physical wellbeing, as these side effects can include problems eating and drinking, fatigue, hair loss, skin reactions, fertility issues and a change in libido. 

It can put patients at a higher risk of infection by reducing their white blood cell count, or make them anaemic if their red blood cells become too low. This could mean they require a blood transfusion. 

Radiation therapy can also cause a dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, changes in taste, and reduced appetite, which can cause patients to lose weight. 

Of course, the longer someone has to undergo cancer treatment, the bigger impact it has on their mental health. The physical side effects, such as tiredness, can make a patient feel depressed, while they may also feel isolated, frustrated at not being able to do the things they normally can, and anxious about their future. 

By being able to reduce the number of radiotherapy sessions, patients are less likely to suffer as much from the side effects.

What’s more, there is no need to have permanent markers on their skin, which can act as a constant reminder of their cancer journey. 

What cancers can ExacTrac Dynamic be used for?

ExacTrac Dynamic can be used for several different types of cancers where radiation therapy is an appropriate course of treatment. This includes breast, lung and prostate cancer.

It can also be effective in the treatment of brain tumours, especially as surgery is sometimes not an option and radiotherapy might be the only option available. 

Radiotherapy can also be used to shrink tumours as part of palliative care, making cancerous symptoms more bearable for patients. It can also slow down the growth of cancer, prolonging life, or reduce the size of the tumour so it is easier to operate on. 

It can also be an option to reduce pressure on the spinal cord by shrinking the tumour, control an ulcerating cancer, or treat a blood vessel blockage in the chest.

Having ExacTrac Dynamic technology helps to speed up the effectiveness of the radiation therapy, so surgery can be booked in sooner, a patient’s symptoms can be eased more promptly, and their life expectancy can be extended.

radiotherapy centre - Brain tomography

Who Developed The Foundations For Stereotactic Radiosurgery?

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One of the most important developments ever made in a radiotherapy centre was the invention of stereotactic radiosurgery.

Also known as the Gamma Knife method, Lars Leksell’s pioneering innovation allowed for an unparalleled level of precision in treating and removing brain conditions, including lesions, growths and trapped nerves.

However, one of the most interesting aspects of Gamma Knife is that the two core components of it were developed largely in parallel with each other.

Radiotherapy went through a wide range of developments as the understanding of how it should and should not be used increased, whilst the stereotactic aspect of Gamma Knife was not initially intended to be used for radiotherapy doses.

In fact, it was originally a surgical method looking for a reason to exist, although it did manage to contribute a great deal to neurosurgery even at an early stage.

The Horsley-Clarke Apparatus

The first stereotactic device was developed by two English doctors as their last collaboration together as peers.

The latter part of the name, Robert H Clarke, is far less well known than the former, Sir Victor Horsley, but was just as critical to the device’s creation.

Dr Clarke believed in the importance of applying mathematical concepts to the field of neurophysiology and wanted to create a workable method for producing brain atlases using Cartesian coordinates.

His counterpart, Sir Victor, was a pioneering neurosurgeon, who innovated a range of surgical techniques to make brain surgery more effective and less risky during a time when surgery as a field was changing rapidly.

He was one of the first surgeons to develop a consistent working method for treating trigeminal neuralgia and also developed bone wax and the skin flap method, as well as making several notable breakthroughs in surgical innovations that could treat epilepsy, something that would later be attempted through radiotherapy by the start of the 20th century.

Mathematics

By 1905, he had started working with Dr Clarke, and the pair developed a mathematical method for undertaking neurosurgery, where different parts of the brain could be identified through coordinates that could be mapped consistently onto a frame.

However, its biggest achievement as described in a 1908 article by the pair was the development of their neurosurgical frame, known as the Horsley-Clark Apparatus, as a system to create an atlas of the brain and a three-dimensional map of where critical brain structures are located.

The system worked in that regard, but it was ultimately designed for cat brains rather than human ones. Despite this, it was still an incredibly important first step and would shape neurosurgery for decades to come.

Influence

The system would prove highly influential, and a decade after its invention, Aubrey T. Mussen commissioned an adaptation of the frame designed for human brains, inspired by the three working at the National Hospital in London.

However, the brass frame does not appear to have ever been used on human brains and did not receive a lot of attention at the time.

In fact, it would take another 15 years after Aubrey’s adaptation for Martin Kirschner to use a similar system to treat an actual patient.

In 1933, the German doctor used a minimally invasive surgical method to insert an electrode into the trigeminal nerve and burn it, treating a condition Sir Victor pioneered the surgical method for with a system extremely similar to stereotactic radiosurgery aside from the use of a physical electrode.

However, by the 1940s, the Horsley-Clark method would reach both its peak of importance and obsolescence within the span of three years.

Human brain atlas

In 1947, after the end of the Second World War, Henry Wycis and Ernest Spiegel used a Horsley-Clarke frame with a cartesian coordinates system to develop the first human brain atlas in history, as well as use the system as part of the now-controversial field of psychosurgery.

The later Talairach coordinates system would evolve from this, which used the brain atlas information to create a grid system more relevant to the actual structure of the human brain.

In 1949, Lars Leksell would effectively make the Horsley-Clarke method obsolete by developing his Gamma Knife system to use a system of polar coordinates as part of his stereotactic radiotherapy system.

This system, alongside a new generation of more advanced three-dimensional imaging systems that allowed brain surgeons to be more precise, led to the obsolescence of the Horsley-Clarke method.

However, without these two doctors and their pioneering system, the Gamma Knife would not have existed.

Chemotherapy - Woman Undergoing Chemotherapy

How to Stay Safe During Chemotherapy in the Summer: Essential Tips

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There’s never a good time to be going through cancer treatment, but the summer is especially difficult for those having chemotherapy, as the warm weather and bright sunshine can have a big impact on your physical and mental health. 

These tips could certainly help cancer patients cope during the summer.

Avoiding direct sunlight

Chemotherapy comes with lots of side effects, one of which is photosensitivity when the skin is more sensitive to UV rays. Therefore, you need to be more careful when going outside, so you don’t harm your skin. 

For instance, you should avoid being outdoors between 1000 and 1500 when the sunshine is strongest. When you do go out, make sure to wear a wide-brimmed hat, long-sleeved loose-fitting clothes, and a scarf under the hat if you have hair loss. 

You also need to wear sunscreen of at least SPF30, making sure it has not expired and protects against UVA and UVB rays. Apply sunscreen to your lips as well, as these can become damaged by the sunshine. 

Being outside for just a few minutes or on a cloudy day could cause you to burn and, subsequently, put you at greater risk of skin cancer, so it is important to protect yourself as much as possible. 

Drink plenty of water

A hot day can dehydrate you far more easily, so it is essential to drink more water than usual when it is warm outside. 

Lots of people who undergo chemotherapy may feel nauseous, or have bouts of diarrhoea or sickness afterwards, which means they are even more likely to be dehydrated. Alternatively, you might lose your appetite or mouth sores could make it hard to swallow. In these cases, you need to make sure you sip little and often, as you are at even greater risk of dehydration. 

You might also want to do some things to reduce sickness, so it is easier to hold down food and water. These include avoiding fried foods, eating cold foods, avoiding filling up with large quantities of liquid, drinking ginger tea or orange ice lollies, and eating small meals and snacks instead of three large ones. 

Some people find drinking fizzy drinks is easier and can help with the nausea. 

As well as making sure you maintain water intake, it is also advisable to avoid being outside for too long, as you are likely to sweat and become dehydrated faster.

Use insect repellent

Insects come out in full force over the summer months, which is why it is essential to use repellent, especially if you have developed lymphoedema after receiving cancer treatment. 

This is when a limb or parts of it starts to swell due to accumulation of lymph, a protein-rich fluid in the body. 

If you get bitten or stung on the affected limb, this can increase the chance of having inflammation or getting an infection in the area. 

As well as being extremely uncomfortable, it could also result in cellulitis, which is a bacterial infection in the deep layers of the skin. This needs to be treated with antibiotics, as it could become serious otherwise.

Wear sunglasses

It is also important to always use sunglasses with UV protection to keep your eyes safe when outside, and to seek shelter under shade where possible. 

Some people develop sensitivity to light in their eyes following cancer treatment, which can make your eyes sore when looking at light. 

Photophobia can also cause discomfort when going from a dark to a light area, such as from indoors to outdoors. This can become particularly bad in the summer when it is bright for several hours of the day. 

To help cope with photophobia, it is wise to wear dark glasses, avoid direct sunlight, and, in some cases, use steroid eye drops. 

Get plenty of rest

The most common side effect of chemotherapy is fatigue, with the treatment leaving people low on energy, sleepy and extremely tired.

This affects between 15 and 90 per cent of patients, according to Cancer Research UK, with this figure increasing to 75 per cent for those with advanced cancer. 

Heat can exacerbate this tiredness, as it can make you feel drowsy and drained. According to the regional medical director at Duke Health in North Carolina, this is due to the body trying to cool itself down. 

“Your body, especially in the sun, has to work hard to maintain a consistent, normal, internal temperature,” Scientific American reported Dr Casery as saying. It does this by dilating blood vessels to release heat and cool down and sweating.

However, these processes increase the heart rate and metabolic rate, which makes people feel tired.

Therefore, people who are already experiencing fatigue will find their symptoms worsen in the heat. Therefore, it is wise to make sure they get plenty of rest, avoid the hottest parts of the day, and allow yourself to recover at your own pace. 

radiotherapy centre - male patient lying down under a gamma camera

Who Was The First Person To Be Treated With Radiotherapy?

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For over a century, people who have cancers, lesions and growths have been advised to go to a radiotherapy centre, where one of the most advanced medical treatments ever invented is used with utter precision to reduce, remove and destroy potentially cancerous cells.

It is the ultimate example of the iterative nature of medical advances, as this cutting-edge technology allows for treatments such as the Gamma Knife to be used effectively to treat brain tumours without causing harm to a particularly delicate part of the body.

As its inventor Lars Leksell once noted, there is no level of precision too precise for the brain.

However, radiotherapy is at least half a century older than the Gamma Knife, and the idea of using radiation to treat disease is almost as old as the discovery of radiation itself.

One Year Later

On 8th November 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays largely by accident, and within a year of a discovery so groundbreaking it invented the field of radiology, it would also be the inspiration for another new field of medical treatment.

He published his original paper a month later on 28th December 1895. A week later, a newspaper in Austria reported the discovery of a new type of radiation, and within weeks of this, doctors were already experimenting with the potential for X-rays not just for diagnosis but for treatment.

Emil Grubbe claimed to be the first person to attempt to treat cancer with X-rays, although the evidence on this is somewhat disputed. Meanwhile, Leopold Freund and Eduard Schiff suggested within a month of the announcement that X-rays could be used to treat diseases such as lupus.

However, the first major treatment using radiation and one of the most influential medical cases in the field of radiotherapy was by French doctor Victor Despeignes, who showed just how effective radiation could be in the treatment of disease if used correctly.

This remains the case even if Dr Despeignes was very wrong about why he thought it would work.

Accidentally Correct

In the middle of 1896, the Lyon-based doctor was visited by a man with an abdominal cancer tumour the size of a baby’s head, and he endeavoured to do what he could to save the man’s life using what were at the time somewhat experimental means.

At the time, conventional medical knowledge claimed that cancer was a parasitic infection rather than a mutation of cells, and so he believed that the antibacterial effects of radiation could be effective at killing the cells

He was right, but not for the right reasons.

Using a Crookes’ tube and half a dozen Radiguet batteries, Dr Despeignes agreed to use radiation to try and kill the cancer, alongside three other treatments at the same time, starting on 4th July 1896.

The man was given a diet of milk and condurango, he was injected with artificial serum and provided a combination of morphine, opium and chloroform to relieve the pain.

These, in combination with twice-daily half-hour radiation treatments, did seem to help relieve the pain for the patient and halved the size of the cancerous tumour, but unfortunately, 20 days after the start of treatment, the 52-year-old man died.

It was far from a controlled experiment, with the issues with artificial serum already known at the time, the dangers of two opioids and chloroform established in the century since, and condurango is an exceptionally controversial choice of ingredient to use.

At the time advertised as a cancer cure and a digestive medicine, condurango could have potentially caused a side effect if the man had a latex allergy.

Because of this, it was easy to look at the positives of the case. The fact that such a huge tumour was reduced by half so quickly was seen as a massive success, and the pursuit of radiotherapy would increase as a result.

It is likely to be the first-ever treatment of cancer with radiation that produced a positive effect, but even if there was an earlier case, Victor Despeignes was the first to be widely reported. Dr Freund’s case the same year was only published in 1901 even if it was first done in 1896.

It created a huge amount of interest in the medical community for radiotherapy and the first successful treatments followed before the end of the 19th century, even if the understanding of how radiation worked and why it affected cancer cells would take a few more years to truly be understood.

However, these early treatments helped to establish the principle, and the following century would turn radiotherapy into a vital, front-line treatment for cancer.

radiotherapy centre - Doctor with x-ray image

What Patients Can Do To Enhance Cancer Treatment Outcomes?

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Modern cancer treatments can be very effective and over half of cancer patients in England and Wales now survive for ten or more years after receiving their diagnosis. Thanks to being seen quickly, technology advancements, and increasing awareness over symptoms, more and more people are living a full and healthy life after their cancer.

While treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, have high success rates, it is also important that patients do what they can to improve their chances of survival. 

Here are some things they can try to enhance the outcome of their treatment. 

Help your body recover

The side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy can often be very difficult to manage, and can include hair loss, fatigue, diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, loss of hearing, digestive complaints, a greater risk of infection and anaemia.

Bruising, mouth ulcers, insonia, skin and nail changes, impact on the nervous system, poor kidney function, a lower sex drive, an increased risk of blood clots, reduced fertility, tingly hands or feet, and lack of appetite are also commonly experienced among cancer patients.

As your body is going through such a huge ordeal, with healthy cells being damaged or destroyed as well as the cancerous ones, it is important to help it recover as much as possible. 

This involves taking care of yourself, or if you are unable to, making sure someone can look after you instead. 

A nutritious diet, staying hydrated, having plenty of rest, and taking exercise when you feel up for it can all do wonders to help your body recover from treatment, and get you back to feeling more like yourself. 

Eat well

One of the most important things to do after cancer treatment is to eat a well-balanced diet, so you can be sure your body is getting the nutrients and energy it needs. This means reducing processed foods, such as ready meals, puddings and packaged items, and eating a more wholesome diet. 

Although lots of patients lose their appetite, feel sick, or have mouth ulcers when they are recovering, which can all put them off eating, it is essential to get enough protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to fuel your body when it is at its weakest. 

It is also sensible to limit alcohol, as this could affect the treatment, and potentially make the side effects worse. For instance, if you have mouth sores or have been vomiting regularly, drinking alcohol can make this very uncomfortable and exacerbate symptoms. 

Stop smoking

Smoking is the biggest cause of cancer, and is responsible for at least 15 types. Therefore, it is not wise to carry on smoking after being diagnosed, as it could encourage the cancer to come back or put you at a higher risk of developing another form of cancer.

Even the occasional cigarette increases your chances of getting cancer, with each one containing 5,000 different chemicals. 

Cancer Research UK warns “there is no safe level of smoking”, so those in recovery should stop immediately and lower the risk of developing a tobacco-related illness. 

Keep your weight stable

Despite the widespread awareness of the risks of obesity, more than a quarter of adults in England fall into this category, and an additional 37.9 per cent of people are overweight.

However, being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, as the extra fat in the body sends signals to cells to divide more often, which can result in cancer.

Therefore, it is a causing factor in more than one in 20 cases, with the risk of developing cancer being higher the heavier you are and the longer you have been overweight. 

That is why it is essential for patients who were either obese or overweight before their treatment to try and maintain a healthy weight instead. By eating well, doing exercise, and being more active in daily life, they can start to lose the extra pounds and reduce their risk of developing cancer again. 

Follow-up appointments

As well as taking good care of yourself and possibly making changes to your lifestyle, it is essential to continue with follow-up appointments. If the treatment is successful, the patient can go into partial or complete remission, which means the signs of the cancer have been reduced or have completely disappeared.

However, cancer can always come back, with most doing so within five years of having treatment. This is why it is essential that patients not miss their regular scans or tests to check whether it has returned.

It is also important they consult with the radiotherapy centre if they are concerned about any symptoms or abnormalities in their body that they believe could be a sign they are no longer in remission.

Radiotherapy for brain tumour - swimmer athlete doing crawl stroke

Swimmer’s Tumour Diagnosis Highlights Radiotherapy Role

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Brain tumours come in many forms and the methods of treating them can vary in all sorts of ways. For some, the tumour is non-cancerous and can be managed, but for others the most serious treatment is needed to prevent an inevitable death from brain cancer.

While some can have all or part of a tumour excised through invasive surgery, this is not always possible, because the tumour can often be located on a part of the brain where the use of surgical instruments would cause fatal damage to the surrounding tissue. At this point, only non-invasive options remain, such as radiotherapy.

Swimmer Reveals Diagnosis

An individual who now finds himself in this situation is Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn. The 23-year-old, who represented Scotland in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and narrowly missed qualification for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, has gone public with his diagnosis of three large oligodendrogliomas, a form of cancer affecting both the brain and spinal cord.

He began having unusual symptoms in December last year, revealing via his Instagram account: “They would leave me with a loss of strength and a numb sensation on my left side, a deep feeling of fear, nausea and extreme deja vu. I now know that these were in fact seizures.”

Once the Olympic trials were over, he had an MRI scan and established the cause of his problems. The diagnosis itself was bad enough, but so too was the news that the nature of the tumours made them inoperable.

However, they can be effectively treated by a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This was a point that Mr Goodburn was quick to note in his post, stating: “The silver lining to this diagnosis is that oligodendrogliomas generally respond better to radiotherapy and chemotherapy than many other serious brain tumour types.”

Oligodendrogliomas Explained

Oligodendrogliomas account for around three per cent of all brain tumours. They are primary tumours that originate in the brain rather than spreading from elsewhere in the body, a factor that makes it impossible to safely excise them.

It is very rare for anyone to be cured completely of these tumours, so their prognosis depends primarily on the kind of oligodendrogliomas the patient is suffering from, while the exact symptoms will depend on which part of the brain they are growing on.

Grade II is a slow, moving tumour and the average survival time after diagnosis is 12 years. An anaplastic grade III tumour is much more aggressive and the typical post-diagnosis survival time is only 3.5 years.

In his post, Mr Goodburn said the tumours are “slow growing and are likely years old,” which appears to indicate they are grade II, giving him a better chance of longer-term survival.

Radiotherapy may be particularly effective in slowing down and even shrinking the tumours, and it may be that it does more than simply extend life in this case, as research is taking place into other therapies that may have a transformative effect in due course.

A New Hope?

Writing about these, the swimmer noted that in his case the tumours “express a mutation of my IDH1 gene that is shared with some forms of leukaemia.” with IDH inhibitor drugs seeing “phenomenal developments” in recent years, which offers the possibility of the emergence of transformative treatments that could radically improve his prognosis.

This highlights a major hope for many people who are suffering from brain tumours, even ones that cannot be operated on. Radiotherapy can do more than just reduce symptoms and buy time to allow patients to live for longer. In some instances, they may allow people to survive long enough to benefit from an emerging new therapy.

Whether this will be enough to cure the tumour completely in the case of Archie Goodburn or at least enable him to live normally and continue his competitive swimming career will depend on the success of attempts to advance IDH inhibitors, but it does show that there is at least hope.

Why Patients Should Take Courage

Furthermore, it shows that if you are a patient who is facing the prospect of radiotherapy, whether by gamma knife or any other method, the side effects you may suffer, ranging from tiredness and skin irritation to emotional effects and a loss of appetite, will be worth it.

Depending on the kind of tumour, the treatment may bring a full cure, combine with other treatments (including in cases where surgery is an option) to deal with the problem, or at least give you many more years of life that might not have been possible before the development of modern radiotherapy.

In addition, it may just be that you could benefit from gaining extra years so that you can benefit from the emergence of new treatments.