This treatment (also called radiotherapy) uses a controlled dose of radiation to kill or damage cancer cells. For head and neck cancer, it is most often given with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). A technique called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) targets the radiation precisely to the cancer, which reduces treatment time and causes as little harm as possible to nearby healthy tissue.
Learn more about:
- Radiation therapy as the main treatment
- Radiation therapy after surgery
- External beam radiation therapy
- Side effects of radiation therapy
- Osteoradionecrosis (ORN)
- Video: What is radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy as the main treatment
For some pharyngeal and laryngeal cancers, radiation therapy will be the main treatment. The aim is to destroy the cancer while maintaining normal speech, swallowing and breathing. Sometimes chemotherapy will also be used to help the radiation work better (chemoradiation). Radiation treatment usually is given daily for 7 weeks for mucosal head and neck cancers, but this may vary from person to person.
Radiation therapy after surgery
Radiation therapy is often used after surgery for head and neck cancers. This is known as adjuvant treatment. The aim is to destroy any remaining cancer cells and reduce the chance of the cancer coming back. You will probably start radiation therapy as soon as your wounds have healed and you’ve recovered your strength, which should be within 6 weeks. Adjuvant radiation therapy is sometimes given together with chemotherapy (chemoradiation). This is usually given for about 6–7 weeks, but may vary person to person.
Before radiation therapy, you meet with a radiation oncologist to work out whether radiation therapy is right for you. You will have a planning session with a CT scan to show the exact area that needs the radiation. You will also be fitted for a plastic mask called an immobilisation mask. You will wear this at each treatment session.
For more on this, see our general section on Radiation therapy.
→ READ MORE: External beam radiation therapy
Video: What is radiation therapy?
Watch this short video to learn more about radiation therapy.
Podcast: Making Treatment Decisions
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Key resource
Download a PDF booklet on this topic.
More resources
A/Prof Martin Batstone, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and Director of the Maxillofacial Unit, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QLD; Polly Baldwin, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council SA; Martin Boyle, Consumer; Dr Teresa Brown, Assistant Director Dietetics, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Honorary Associate Professor, University of Queensland, QLD; Dr Hayley Dixon, Head, Clinical Support Dentistry Department, WSLHD Oral Health Services, Public Health Dentistry Specialist, NSW; Head and Neck Cancer Care Nursing Team, Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC; Rhys Hughes, Senior Speech Pathologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Annette Lim, Medical Oncologist and Clinician Researcher – Head and Neck and Non-melanoma Skin Cancer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Sweet Ping Ng, Radiation Oncologist, Austin Health, VIC; Deb Pickersgill, Senior Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Queensland Sports Medicine Centre, QLD; John Spurr, Consumer; Kate Woodhead, Physiotherapist, St Vincent’s Health, Melbourne, VIC; A/Prof Sue-Ching Yeoh, Oral Medicine Specialist, University of Sydney, Sydney Oral Medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW.
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