Introduction to radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is an important non-surgical cancer treatment modality, forming all, or part of, the management of 40% of patients cured of their disease. It may be used alone or in combination with other treatments such as chemotherapy and surgery. Radiotherapy can be curative in the treatment of locoregional disease but is also effective in the palliation of symptoms in advanced or metastatic disease. This chapter covers some basic concepts, describes a typical patient pathway and the different forms of radiotherapy treatment: external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy and radioisotopes. Palliative radiotherapy is also discussed.