People need to eat when they are hungry, and they need radiotherapy when they have nasopharyngeal cancer. This highly summarizes the importance of radiotherapy in the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer. Unlike surgery and chemotherapy, radiotherapy is performed by many different departments and many different series of medical and nursing staffs working closely together. Therefore, there are more factors affecting the effectiveness of nasopharyngeal cancer treatment.
Generally speaking, there are endogenous and exogenous factors affecting the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer. The internal factors are mainly the patient’s psychological state, physical quality and biological behavior of tumor cells. For example, a patient’s tumor cells are special and resistant to radiotherapy, while the only most effective treatment method for nasopharyngeal cancer is radiotherapy, so it can be imagined that the treatment effect of this patient is definitely not good. However, there is no method like “penicillin skin test” to predict the tumor cells that are resistant to radiotherapy. Therefore, this article is mainly about external factors, that is, several aspects that affect the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Hospital link: The importance and strength of the hospital have a great influence on the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. As we all know, the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer mainly relies on radiotherapy machines. If the radiotherapy equipment is outdated and the software is backward, the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer will definitely be greatly reduced. The cultivation of radiotherapy talents is also very important. Without a well-qualified and experienced radiotherapy team, the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer can hardly be improved. In addition, the strength of the hospital also affects the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer. For example, if a hospital does not have MRI machine or has MRI machine but the equipment is backward or the personnel’s skills are poor, it cannot provide clear tumor images and the tumor target area outlined cannot be accurate, so the number of patients who recur after treatment will certainly increase.
Radiotherapist link: Many tasks of nasopharyngeal cancer treatment, such as diagnosis and clinical staging of nasopharyngeal cancer, formulation of treatment plan, outlining of tumor target area, determination of radiotherapy plan and treatment of radiotherapy reactions, etc. are all done by radiotherapists. If the radiotherapist’s treatment skills are not high and clinical experience is lacking, the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer can be imagined.
Physiotherapist session: As radiation therapy enters the era of precision treatment, the role of physiotherapist in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is becoming more and more important. In intensity modulated radiotherapy, the tumor target area outlined by the radiotherapist is designed by the physiotherapist. The field plan made by experienced physiotherapists can not only irradiate the tumor target area in sufficient amount, but also minimize the dose of irradiation to the normal vital organs adjacent to the tumor.
The role of radiographers in the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer should not be underestimated. A patient with nasopharyngeal cancer usually needs about 32 times of radiotherapy. If the radiotherapist has poor technology and insufficient experience, the error of each radiotherapy placement will directly affect the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Radiotherapy machine link: It is not enough to have advanced radiotherapy machines, but there should be a first-class inspection and maintenance team to ensure the normal operation of radiotherapy machines and the stability of radiation dose output. If there is no regular inspection and maintenance of radiotherapy machines, the output dose of radiotherapy is unstable, sometimes high and sometimes low, so that the tumor does not get sufficient irradiation, and the recurrence is bound to increase. Some practices in France are worthy of our reference. In the French radiotherapy center, the testing and maintenance personnel go to work one hour earlier to test and adjust the radiation output of all radiotherapy machines before starting to treat patients.
As you can see, good nasopharyngeal cancer treatment results from the close cooperation and joint efforts of multiple departments and many different series of medical and nursing staff. The weakness of any one link will affect the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer .