Radiotherapy is one of the most common ways to treat cancer worldwide. It works by destroying cancer cells using radiation and, thanks to research, it is continuing to become more and more effective. You or someone you know might have had radiotherapy, perhaps before or after other treatments. Here we answer some of your questions about how effective radiotherapy is and how your support is helping researchers to discover kinder and better therapies.
What does 'effective' mean when it comes to radiotherapy?
Patients have radiotherapy for different reasons – to destroy a tumour, to complement other therapies or to treat symptoms. Depending on the type and stage of the cancer, radiotherapy will have different goals. Each radiotherapy plan is individual to the patient.
Sometimes radiotherapy can completely destroy a tumour and cure a cancer, either on its own or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. Find out more about how radiotherapy works in our explainer.
Radiotherapy can be used before surgery, to shrink the tumour so it is easier to remove. Alternatively it can be given after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells so there is less chance of the cancer returning.
What is the success rate of radiotherapy?
Radiotherapy is an effective cancer treatment and is able to work on most types of cancer. About half of all people with cancer will have radiotherapy either by itself or with other treatments. 4 out of 10 people who have their cancer cured have had radiotherapy as part of their treatment plan. Combining chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be a powerful way to cure cancer, as chemotherapy can make cells more sensitive to radiation.
Having said that, radiotherapy does not work on all patients, it tends to work best on cancers that have not spread, and it can have nasty side effects. Research is needed to make radiotherapy kinder, and more effective, for more patients.
If a cancer has spread making it hard to cure, radiotherapy can still be used to relieve symptoms including pain or bleeding. This is called palliative radiotherapy and it can be effective in shrinking a cancer or slowing its growth.
Factors that affect how well radiotherapy works:
Every cancer is different and so is every patient. Radiotherapy acts by destroying cancer cells or damaging them so they can no longer grow or spread. It is an intricate process often involving several therapy sessions over multiple weeks, and there are various factors which can influence how effective radiotherapy may be in any individual patient:
- Tumour type. For example, breast cancer and prostate cancer tend to respond positively to radiotherapy
- Tumour stage. The more a cancer grows and spreads, the harder it is to treat
- Age. Younger patients tend to have healthier tissues surrounding the tumour which means they tolerate treatment better than older patients.
- General health. Having other diseases such as diabetes can make it harder to withstand radiation therapy.
- Radiation dose. Healthcare teams work hard to get a good balance between having strong enough radiotherapy that it will destroy the cancer cells, but not too strong that it can damage healthy tissue
How does it compare to other treatments?
There isn't one correct answer to how radiotherapy compares to other treatments, because everybody has their own, individual treatment plan for their cancer. For certain patients radiotherapy may be the best option, and in other cases surgery or chemotherapy would be more effective. For many, a combination of treatments gives the best chance of curing their cancer.
Radiotherapy in combination with chemotherapy is the gold-standard treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumour. One of the challenges with curing this type of cancer is that the tumours often grow back after treatment.
Thanks to Curestarter support, Dr Jamie Dean and his team in London are currently exploring if changing the timing of radiotherapy could make treatment more effective for glioblastoma patients around the world.
The funding from Worldwide Cancer Research is vital in enabling us to design more effective radiotherapy approaches for glioblastoma patients and translate these into a future clinical trial. The new insights we make could also show us how radiotherapy and other treatments can be administered more effectively in other cancers.
How is cancer research making radiotherapy more effective?
New technology is helping radiotherapy to be safer and kinder for patients and to work more effectively, by more precisely targeting tumours and leaving surrounding tissues undamaged.
SABR (Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy) uses smaller, more focused beams of radiation and targets a tumour from different angles. IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy) uses a computer-controlled accelerator to carefully customise treatment to the 3D shape of a tumour. It can also allow a higher dose of radiation to be focussed on the tumour whilst minimising the dose on surrounding healthy cells.
AI technology could also be used to make radiotherapy more effective and reduce side effects. A study in Manchester is looking at whether AI can reduce heart damage caused by radiotherapy in lung cancer patients.
Thanks to Curestarters like you, Worldwide Cancer Research is proud to be supporting researchers around the world who are curious about radiotherapy and how to improve it for patients.
Dr Manuel Valiente
Studying brain tumours and why some patients don't respond to radiotherapy. Has found a way to make brain metastases more vulnerable to radiotherapy and hopes to take this into clinical trials soon.
Dr Gertraud Orend
Testing a new molecular tool on models of breast and tongue tumours in the lab, to see if cancers can be prevented from returning after radiotherapy.
Dr Mika Reinisalo
Hoping to find a way for an exciting new radiotherapy called Boron neutron capture therapy to work more effectively for retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer that affects young children.
Your radiotherapy FAQs:
How effective is radiotherapy at treating cancer?
Radiotherapy is needed in over 50% of cancer cases. It contributes to 40% of cancer cures worldwide.
Can radiotherapy cure cancer completely?
Yes, in some cases radiotherapy can cure cancer completely either on its own or in combination with other treatments. In other cases radiotherapy can help to reduce the size of a tumour, stop it growing or treat symptoms.
What are the side effects of radiotherapy?
Side effects will differ in every patient but they can include tiredness, problems with eating or drinking, feeling sick, skin reactions, and hair loss. Researchers are helping to find ways to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy and discover new kinder treatments.
How safe is radiotherapy?
Radiotherapy is given by trained professionals and if you or a loved one is having radiotherapy you will be asked to follow certain safety procedures to keep you and others safe.
There is a limit to how much radiation a specific area of your body can receive over a lifetime so your healthcare team will work out the best treatment plan for you. Please speak to your oncology team if you have any questions about your therapy.
What research is being done to make radiotherapy more effective?
Thanks to international cancer research, radiotherapy is becoming more effective for cancer patients around the world. Research funded by our Curestarters is making radiotherapy more effective against cancers that have spread to the brain, exploring how radiotherapy can help children with retinoblastoma and stopping cancer coming back after radiotherapy treatment.
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