Radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells.

Radiation therapy is usually used to treat laryngeal cancer. Your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan the type and amount of radiation, and when and how it is given.

You may have radiation therapy to:

• treat a tumour and nearby lymph nodes
• shrink a tumour before other treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy (called neoadjuvant therapy)
• destroy cancer cells left behind after surgery or chemotherapy to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back (recur) (called adjuvant therapy)
• relieve pain or control the symptoms of advanced laryngeal cancer (called palliative therapy)

Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are often given during the same time period to treat laryngeal cancer. This is called chemoradiation. Some chemotherapy drugs can help make radiation work better by making cancer cells more sensitive to radiation. Combining chemotherapy and radiation therapy can be more effective than either treatment on its own.

External radiation therapy is the type of radiation most commonly used to treat laryngeal cancer.

During external radiation therapy, a machine directs radiation through the skin to the tumour and some of the tissue around it. External radiation therapy is also called external beam radiation therapy.

Doctors may use the following external radiation techniques to accurately target the area to be treated and spare as much surrounding normal tissue as possible.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is similar to 3D-CRT in that it delivers radiation from many different angles to treat the entire tumour. In addition to shaping and aiming the radiation beams, IMRT allows the radiation oncologist to adjust the strength (intensity) of the individual beams. This reduces the dose of radiation reaching nearby normal tissue while allowing a higher dose to be delivered to the tumour. It is useful for treating tumours in hard-to-reach areas like the glottis.

During radiation therapy, your healthcare team protects healthy cells in the treatment area as much as possible. Side effects of radiation therapy will depend mainly on the size of the area being treated, the specific area or organs being treated, the total dose of radiation or chemoradiation and the treatment schedule. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think are from radiation therapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.

These are common side effects of radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer:

• fatigue
• skin problems
• dry mouth
• sore mouth and throat
• difficulty swallowing
• loss of appetite and taste changes
• hair loss
• weight loss
• swelling (lymphedema)
• thyroid problems
• damage to jawbone (osteoradionecrosis) or trouble opening the jaw (trismus)
• tooth decay

Find out more about radiation therapy and the side effects of radiation therapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about radiation therapy.