Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy uses high-energy radiation (usually X-rays) to treat disease, most commonly cancer. It can also help relieve symptoms caused by cancer.

The treatment works by damaging all cells in the targeted area, but while healthy cells recover, diseased cells are destroyed. Each patient’s radiotherapy is carefully planned to minimise effects on healthy tissue.

Radiotherapy is painless and treatments typically last from a few seconds to several minutes. Most treatments are delivered externally, but some cancers may be treated internally using a method called brachytherapy.

Radiotherapy uses targeted X-rays to treat tumours and cancer cells and kills them off. It gives the dose to the tumour. It tries to limit the dose your healthy tissues get. There are different types of radiotherapy offered at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. You can find information on radiotherapy for lots of types of cancer on the Macmillan website.

External Beam
  • External beam radiotherapy is the most common type of treatment.
  • We use machines called linear accelerators (linacs).
  • The radiation goes through your skin to get to the cancer.
  • This method treats breast, prostate, and lung cancers, as well as many more sites.
Superficial
  • Superficial radiotherapy is used to treat cancers and areas at the skin’s surface.
  • It uses electrons and is given on the linac.
  • It can also be done using a special low-energy X-ray unit.
  • Types of cancers treated with this are mainly skin cancers, like squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC).
Brachytherapy

At Leicester Royal Infirmary, we use brachytherapy to treat cervical and endometrial cancer. Brachytherapy is a specialised treatment. It puts radioactive sources in the patient. This gives a high radiation dose to the tumour. It does not go through the skin and other healthy organs.

Where to find us and our facilities

Find out where you can find us from the Chemotherapy Suite at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Watch the video below, produced by the Leicester Macmillan team.

Four Varian Truebeam linear accelerators that deliver treatments using VMAT (RapidArc) and IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy) and also use IGRT (Image-Guided Radiotherapy) to make sure treatment is accurate. 

A new Varian Halcyon has recently been installed in our department. It delivers treatment using VMAT (RapidArc) and IMRT and also has kV and MV IGRT capabilities. This device promises to increase throughput for prostate cancer patients and reduce the department’s waiting times and list.

In addition to this, our department also has other services and devices that support and facilitate radiation therapy. These include:  

The ability to treat certain breast patients using the Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) technique.

  • 1 Toshiba wide bore multi-slice CT scanner
  • 1 GE wide bore CT Scanner
  • 1 Xstrahl treatment unit often used to treat superficial skin lesions     
  • A Brachytherapy Service
  • On-site planning department
  • SABR treatment (Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy)

Our patient information library hosts a range of leaflets to help patients understand their radiotherapy treatment. Leaflets cover topics such as radiotherapy for specific body parts and brachytherapy.

View our radiotherapy patient information leaflets

Macmillan produces factsheets about radiotherapy in the following languages: 

We have many kinds of healthcare professionals. They work together to provide the care our patients will need.

  • Therapeutic Radiographers: Patients will see our therapeutic radiographers most often. They deliver the treatment, with support from our radiotherapy assistants. The radiographers will work with the oncologists (doctors) and radiotherapy physics team.
  • Radiotherapy Physics: Our radiotherapy physics team includes radiotherapy dosimetrists and medical physicists and engineers. The dosimetrists plan the treatment. The physicists and engineers make sure that the machines work and the plans are correct.
  • Oncologists: Oncologists are doctors who specialise in cancer and its treatments. They will prescribe radiotherapy and see patients during the treatment.
  • Other healthcare staff you might meet include: Oncology nurses / Clinical nurse specialists, Dietitians, Speech and language therapists, Radiotherapy assistants, and Radiotherapy students from Sheffield Hallam University.

At Leicester’s Hospitals we are fortunate to have an extremely strong research profile.

  • We are one of 18 Adult Experimental Cancer Medicine Research Centres across the UK 
  • We deliver a wide range of Cancer and Haematology National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) studies 
  • We have been awarded Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) status
  • We are part of the Myeloma UK Clinical Trials Network
  • We are formally affiliated to the IMPACT Network (UK Stem Cell Transplant Clinical Trials Platform) 
  • We work collaboratively with our local universities 

Our remit is wide-ranging, forward-thinking and patient focused.

You can find accessibility information for Hope cancer Trials Centre here.

Contact details

We ask patients for appointment time preferences and try our very best to accommodate these, however the department is busy and as a result, preferences cannot always be adhered to.

The emergency helpline is open (24 hours, seven days a week) for patients and carers.

Radiotherapy reception phone:
0116 2586244
Emergency helpline:
0808 178 2212
Address:

Radiotherapy Department
Osborne Building
Leicester Royal Infirmary
LE1 5WW