Radiation therapy for tumors, referred to as radiotherapy, is a method of treating malignant tumors by using radiation such as alpha and beta rays produced by radioisotopes and x-rays, electrons, proton beams and other particle beams produced by various types of x-ray therapy machines or gas pedals.
Modern tumor treatment requires comprehensive treatment. Precision radiotherapy technology can improve the accuracy of radiotherapy and reduce the incidence of radioactive otitis media and radioactive brain and spinal cord injury; precision radiotherapy technology can significantly reduce the incidence of other injuries, except for not reducing systemic reactions and oropharyngeal mucosal reactions.
Radiotherapy is the only radical means of treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer. The reasons for this are: 1. The nasopharynx is located at the base of the skull and its anatomical structure is complex, with important blood vessels and nerves adjacent to it, so it is impossible to completely remove the primary nasopharyngeal foci, which makes surgical treatment extremely restricted.
2. Most nasopharyngeal cancers are low differentiated cancers with high sensitivity to radiation, so radiation therapy has always been the first choice for treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Even if MRI or CT examination does not show visible metastatic lymph nodes in the neck, there may be tiny metastatic lesions inside the lymph nodes in the neck that cannot be detected by imaging examination, so radiation therapy requires irradiation of Therefore, the scope of radiation therapy needs to include the primary tumor of nasopharynx and the lymph node area of the neck. With the application of intensity modulation technology in recent years, the local control rate of early lesions can reach 70-90%, and the 5-year survival rate increases to 70-80%.
The treatment means of laryngeal cancer are: radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy. The choice of treatment means depends on the stage of laryngeal cancer, and the treatment principles are different for different stages. People have only one articulation organ, so rash surgery will make people lose their articulation function forever and become mute. Therefore, the treatment of laryngeal cancer not only emphasizes the cure, but also the importance of preserving the normal laryngeal articulation function.
For early stage laryngeal cancer, the effect of radiotherapy is similar to that of surgery, and the overall survival rate is similar, but the vocal function is close to normal after radiotherapy for early stage laryngeal cancer, and the 5-year local control rate can reach 98.8%. Even if radiotherapy fails, the tumor may still be eradicated by surgery.
Choosing radiotherapy for early active part tongue cancer and low differentiated tonsillar squamous carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma can achieve good disease control and function preservation. Radical radiotherapy can be chosen for poorly differentiated and radiotherapy-sensitive early-stage oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers that cause swallowing and vocal dysfunction after surgery. Tonsil cancer is one of the malignant tumors that can be treated well by radiotherapy alone, and the 5-year survival rate is about 50%-83% after radiotherapy.
In conclusion, the anatomical structure of the head and neck is complex, and usually surgery alone is very traumatic and causes great loss of physical function and facial appearance of the patient, so the reasonable arrangement of surgery and radiotherapy can reduce the loss and achieve better results.
For esophageal cancer in the neck and upper thoracic region, radiotherapy can be preferred because of its good effect, low damage to human body and high quality of life after treatment. For malignant glioma, postoperative radiotherapy can reduce local recurrence and improve survival rate, regardless of whether the surgery is completely removed or not. Brain metastases, brain metastases are often accompanied by headache, activity disorders and other symptoms, which affect the quality of life, radiotherapy can significantly improve the symptoms. Most patients with painful bone metastases can have their pain significantly reduced or improved by radiotherapy.