What are the types of radiotherapy for cervical cancer and what are the differences in techniques? There are two major types of radiotherapy for cervical cancer: extracorporeal radiotherapy and intracavitary radiotherapy. For radical radiotherapy of cervical cancer, the combination of external radiotherapy and intracavitary radiotherapy is necessary to achieve the best effect. For postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy of cervical cancer, except for a few patients with incomplete cut edges who need adjuvant intracavitary radiotherapy, external radiotherapy can be used for other patients. In addition, according to different radiotherapy techniques, external radiotherapy can be divided into two-dimensional radiotherapy, conformal radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy, etc. Intracavitary radiotherapy can also be divided into two-dimensional radiotherapy and three-dimensional radiotherapy. Who can undergo radiotherapy? For patients with cervical cancer, radiotherapy can be used for almost all patients. Early stage cervical cancer can be treated with surgery and radiotherapy, especially for patients with more comorbidities, high risk of surgery, or late tumors, which are estimated to need adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery. For advanced cervical cancer, surgery is not an option, but radiotherapy is still an option, even for the most advanced stage IVB patients, palliative radiotherapy can be chosen. Who are the patients who are not suitable for radiotherapy? The main reason is that radiotherapy can kill tumor and normal organs at the same time, so there will be some unavoidable side effects, such as radiation enteritis and ovarian function damage. Therefore, for some young and very early stage cervical cancer, such as stage IA cervical cancer, radiotherapy is usually not used. Who should have preoperative radiotherapy? For patients with large localized cervical tumor and difficult surgery, neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy is usually chosen before surgery, mainly to shrink the tumor and reduce the difficulty of surgery and intraoperative bleeding and other line related complications. Do I need radiotherapy after radical surgery? Which one should I choose? After radical cervical cancer surgery, if there are high risk factors for recurrence in the postoperative pathology, adjuvant radiotherapy is also required, usually external radiotherapy is used. How to choose intracavitary and extracorporeal radiotherapy for cervical cancer? For radical radiotherapy of cervical cancer (radical radiotherapy is used for patients who have direct radiotherapy without surgery), it should be combined with extracorporeal radiotherapy and intracavitary radiotherapy, one cannot be missing. For postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy for cervical cancer, extracorporeal radiotherapy is generally used, unless there is postoperative pathology with unclear vaginal cut margin or tumor adjacent to the cut margin. Should I use intracavitary or extracorporeal radiotherapy if I have inflammation? Whether there is inflammation or not does not affect the choice of radiotherapy modality, but mainly depends on the need of the disease. What is intensity-modulated radiation therapy? Who is it suitable for? Intensity-modulated radiotherapy is a kind of three-dimensional radiotherapy, which refers to the precise calculation and adjustment of multiple radiation field sizes and doses, so that the dose to the tumor area (clinically known as the target area) can reach the dose we need to irradiate while the dose to the area we do not want to irradiate, i.e., the normal organs and tissues, is as small as possible, thus improving the efficacy of radiotherapy and at the same time This will improve the efficacy of radiation therapy and reduce the side effects of radiation therapy. What are the common complications after radiotherapy and how to manage them? The most common complications after radiotherapy include bone marrow suppression (low white blood cells, low platelets, anemia, etc.), radiation cystitis, radiation proctitis, and lymphedema of the lower extremities. Bone marrow suppression can be treated by strengthening nutrition, oral blood-raising drugs, and injection of appropriate injections. Radiation cystitis requires the patient to drink more water, and if there is bleeding, hemostatic drugs can be applied, and in addition, Chinese medicine can be used for treatment. Radiation proctitis can be treated with a combination of enemas, hemostatic and herbal medicines. For lower limb lymphedema can be treated with acupuncture, massage, Chinese herbal medicine, etc. What are the care and precautions before and after radiotherapy? Patients with cervical cancer should pay attention to avoid spicy and stimulating food during and after radiotherapy, especially during radiotherapy. Also patients who receive intracavitary radiotherapy should insist on vaginal douching during and after radiotherapy to avoid vaginal stricture and adhesions.