On two occasions, patients said that the clinicians had difficulty inserting the rods in to their vagina, but most did not. High dose rate therapy is usually given over a course of two or more sessions as an outpatient.Īll the women we interviewed were treated as inpatients. Special precautions will need to be taken to prevent other people being exposed to radioactivity while the machine is giving you your treatment' (Macmillan Cancer Support December 2015). “You’ll be cared for in a single room while you’re having brachytherapy. Patients will need to stay in hospital during their treatment and will not be able to sit up in bed. Treatment time varies for each individual patient. It is given using applicators, which look like rods (sometimes called ovoids or tubes), that are placed in the cervix and vagina under either local or general anaesthetic and radioactive material is placed inside the applicator. Treatment may be low or high dose rate radiotherapy. Internal radiotherapy (sometimes called brachytherapy) for cervical cancer is usually given after external radiotherapy or sometimes after surgery. Messages to others about cervical cancerĬervical Cancer Internal radiotherapy for cervical cancer.Sex and sexuality after cervical cancer.Complementary approaches for cervical cancer.Internal radiotherapy for cervical cancer.External radiotherapy for cervical cancer.How cervical cancer affects family and other people.Finding information about cervical cancer and decision making.

Radium implant for cervical cancer