Throat Cancer Treatments – Radiation Therapy

Radiation Therapy for Throat Cancer

After physicians at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) carefully review diagnostic tests that help them gauge the stage, size and location of your throat cancer, they may recommend radiation therapy as either your main course of throat cancer treatment, or as an adjunct to surgery or chemotherapy .

As soon as you and your doctor decide on the radiation treatment that best suits your needs, our medical physicists will analyze the location of your throat cancer and plan precisely where to target the radiation.

Radiation therapy may be used to treat throat cancer in the three regions of the pharynx (throat), as noted below.

Nasopharynx: The predominant treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer is radiation therapy. Physicians may advise treating both the tumor and lymph nodes that are close to the tumor because throat cancer may also spread to the lymph nodes. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is one form of radiation therapy that may be recommended as a throat cancer treatment for this region of the pharynx. Doctors may also suggest that chemotherapy be a part of the treatment plan. For patients with stage IV nasopharyngeal cancer, surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes may also follow a regimen of radiation therapy.

Oropharynx: Surgery and radiation are often used as a combined throat cancer treatment for oropharyngeal cancer, particularly for patients who have large tumors. The radiation may help to eliminate any cancer cells that remain after surgery is performed. For patients who have smaller tumors in their oropharynx, radiation may be recommended as the primary form of throat cancer treatment. Furthermore, for those suffering from stage III or IV oropharyngeal cancer, chemotherapy may be integrated into the treatment plan.

Hypopharynx: External Beam Radiation Therapy is often used to treat hypopharyngeal cancer. For smaller tumors in this region, physicians may propose a throat cancer treatment plan that includes radiation, not surgery. In some cases, chemotherapy may be advised in addition to radiation treatment.

Throat Cancer Radiation Treatments

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), a number of radiation therapies are used for throat cancer treatment. These include the following:

External Beam Radiation Therapy

This throat cancer treatment utilizes a high-energy X-ray machine to direct radiation beams at the cancer in your throat from outside of your body. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), 3D Conformal Radiation and TomoTherapy® are all forms of this radiation therapy. External Beam Radiation Therapy for throat cancer typically runs a course of five days a week for approximately five to seven weeks. Each treatment of this radiation therapy for throat cancer lasts only a few minutes.

3D Conformal Radiation

Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy applies computer simulation so that your radiation care team can accurately image your tumor. This helps us to shape radiation beams to the throat cancer treatment area, sparing nearby normal tissue.

High-Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy

HDR brachytherapy is an internal form of radiation, meaning that the radiation is placed within the site of the tumor. Radioactive pellets are released through a catheter placed into a tumor, allowing us to radiate the throat cancer tumor from the inside out. A highly coordinated, computerized system then controls where and how long each pellet is released inside the catheter.

Advantages of using this radiation therapy include that it allows us to safely retreat in areas that have previously been radiated and in a shorter time frame than some other conventional throat cancer treatments.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

This advanced therapy shapes beams of radiation to the exact contour of a tumor, helping to protect healthy tissues that surround the tumor. IMRT is revolutionizing the way that head and neck cancers, including throat cancer, are irradiated. With cancers of the tongue, throat and larynx, the lymph glands of the neck typically have to be radiated along with the cancerous tumor. This often results in permanent damage to salivary glands and a life-long dry mouth. However, IMRT makes it possible for cancer doctors to treat the lymph nodes in your neck and avoid your salivary glands during throat cancer treatment.

TomoTherapy®

Because of its remarkable accuracy, this special form of IMRT allows us to safely retreat tumors in areas of the throat that are extremely hard to reach. TomoTherapy® integrates imaging technology with radiation therapy. Each time you receive a TomoTherapy® throat cancer treatment, you will first undergo a CT scan from the same machine. Just minutes after the CT scan is taken, radiation therapists make technical adjustments to the system to align your programmed radiation treatment to the precise position you are in.

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