Radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer

You might have radiotherapy on its own or with chemotherapy (chemoradiotherapy) to treat nasopharyngeal cancer.

You have a planning session with your radiotherapy team a few days or weeks before you start treatment.

With external radiotherapy, a large machine aims the radiation beams at the cancer. You go to the hospital for treatment once a day, from Monday to Friday, with a break at the weekends. The length of the course of treatment varies but it is usually between 4 and 7 weeks.

Most people have side effects from radiotherapy to the nasopharynx. These include sore skin in the treatment area, a sore mouth and throat, dry mouth and taste changes. These are usually short term but there is a risk of late side effects.

Having chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the same time is called chemoradiotherapy.