What is radiotherapy?
Radiation therapy is a part of cancer treatment that uses high doses of ionizing radiation (X-rays or gamma rays) to kill cancer cells through DNA damage. Radiotherapy is aimed to deliver a precisely measured dose of irradiation to a defined tumour volume with minimum damage to the surrounding healthy normal tissues.

Radiation in Gynecological cancers
Radiation therapy is an essential component in treating gynecological malignancies including carcinoma of cervix, endometrium, vulva, vagina and rarely ovary.

Radiation is used as:

• Curative/ Definitive Radiotherapy : primary non-surgical management for achieving cure
• Adjuvant Radiotherapy : post operative treatment for decreasing chances of local recurrences
• Neo-adjuvant Radiotherapy : pre operative therapy to decrease the bulk of tumour and achieve maximum resection
• Palliative Radiotherapy : for symptomatic relief of symptoms.

Types of radiotherapy used in Gynecological cancer

1) External Radiotherapy/ Teletherapy :

Directs high-energy x-ray beams at the tumour from outside the body using machines. Techniques available for delivering External Radiotherapy at our institute are :

• Tomotherapy
• Stereotactic Body RadioTherapy (SBRT)
• Image Guided RadioTherapy (IGRT)
• Intensity Modulated RadioTherapy (IMRT)
• Volumetric Modulated Arc Radiotherapy (VMAT)
• Stereotactic RadioSurgery (SRS)
• Stereotactic RadioTherapy (SRT)
• 3D - Conformal RadioTherapy (3D CRT)
• 2D - Conventional RadioTherapy
• Palliative RadioTherapy

2) Internal Radiotherapy/ Brachytherapy :

Radiation is delivered through radioactive material placed directly inside or next to the tumour. Techniques available for delivering External Radiotherapy at our institute are:

Internal radiation is given using a device called HDR i.e., high dose rate brachytherapy unit. These HDR treatments involve placing an apparatus inside the body very close to the cancer and loading radiation into that apparatus and delivering a high dose of radiation over a short period of time

• Intracavitary radiotherapy (ICRT/ CVS)
• Interstitial radiotherapy (MUPIT)

Our team places utmost importance on counselling of the patient before starting radiation therapy, and educating them on the various techniques, duration of treatment and related side effects. We believe in enabling our patients to make an informed decision, as well as being compliant throughout the process and during follow up. We, at AGOG focus on individualized multidisciplinary approach for each patient seeking the best possible outcome.