About radiotherapy for nasal and sinus cancer

Men and women discussing nasal and sinus cancer

This page has information on radiotherapy for nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers. You can go to information on

A quick guide to what's on this page
What radiotherapy is
Treating nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers with radiotherapy
Where to find more general information about radiotherapy

About radiotherapy for nasal and sinus cancer

Radiotherapy uses high energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiotherapy may be the first choice of treatment for some types of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers. It can cure many people with early stage cancers. Whether this type of treatment is suitable for you will depend on the type of cancer you have, exactly where it is, its size and how far it has grown into the surrounding tissues.

Radiotherapy with chemotherapy

You may have radiotherapy and chemotherapy together for some types of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers.

Radiotherapy after surgery

Radiotherapy after surgery helps to stop your cancer from coming back. You may have it because the tumour was difficult to remove and there may be cancer cells left behind. Or because the tumour had spread locally into nearby structures. Or because cancer cells were found in your lymph nodes.

Radiotherapy to relieve symptoms

You may hear this called palliative radiotherapy. It relieves symptoms by shrinking the cancer. The cancer may grow back, but it could take a while to do so. Radiotherapy can also help to relieve pain.

CR PDF Icon You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the treating nasal cancer section.

Radiotherapy uses high energy rays to kill cancer cells. You can't feel the treatment while you are having it. It is like having an X-ray. But a course of radiotherapy that lasts a few weeks does usually have some side effects. In particular, your mouth can get very sore.

For nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers, you may have

Radiotherapy on its own
Radiotherapy with chemotherapy
Radiotherapy after surgery
Radiotherapy to relieve symptoms

Radiotherapy on its own

Radiotherapy may be the first choice of treatment for some types of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers. It can cure many people with early stage cancers. Whether this type of treatment is suitable for you will depend on

Which type of cancer you have
The size of the cancer
How far it has grown into the surrounding tissues
Exactly where the cancer is

Radiotherapy with chemotherapy

You may have radiotherapy and chemotherapy together for some types of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers. There is more about this treatment in the chemotherapy for nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers section.

Radiotherapy after surgery

Radiotherapy after surgery is called adjuvant therapy. It helps to stop your cancer from coming back. Doctors use radiotherapy after surgery for a number of different reasons. You may have it because

The tumour was difficult to remove
Your surgeon thinks there may be cancer cells left behind
The tumour had spread locally into nearby structures
Cancer cells were found in your lymph nodes

You will usually have treatment daily, Monday to Friday, for between 4 and 7 weeks. So you will have up to 35 separate treatments, called fractions. Breaking the treatment down into a series of smaller treatments helps to keep side effects under control. If you add up all the radiation doses you have in the fractions, the total will be the complete dose of radiation your specialist has prescribed for you.

Radiotherapy to relieve symptoms

Radiotherapy can relieve symptoms in advanced nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers. You may hear this called palliative radiotherapy. Your cancer may be causing difficulty in swallowing or breathing. Because some nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancers are close to the brain, they can grow and put pressure on the brain.

Radiotherapy can help to relieve this pressure. The treatment relieves symptoms by shrinking the cancer. The cancer may grow back, but it could take a while to do so. No one can say how long, but the radiotherapy could relieve your symptoms for some time. Radiotherapy can also help to relieve pain. To control symptoms, you are most likely to have a short course of a few treatments over a few days.

If you would like more general information about radiotherapy, look at the main radiotherapy section in CancerHelp UK, which covers

There are books and booklets available about radiotherapy, some of which are free. Look at the cancer and treatment reading list for details.