Radiotherapy for secondary bone cancer

Radiotherapy to control bone pain

You might have radiotherapy to control pain from secondary bone cancer. This might be with other types of treatment. But depends on the type of cancer you have.

Radiotherapy can help prevent your bones from fracturing. It can also help to prevent new painful areas developing.

Having this treatment might slow down the cancer and give you a better quality of life for a longer time. But it won't cure your cancer. Treatment that aims to relieve your symptoms is called palliative radiotherapy.

How you have treatment

Both external and internal radiotherapy can help with bone pain.

More rarely you might have hemibody irradiation. This is a type of external radiotherapy. 

External beam radiotherapy

External radiotherapy is the most common type of treatment for secondary bone cancer. 

Before you start your treatment you have a specialised CT planning scan. This helps the treatment team plan exactly where to give the radiotherapy. You might also need to have a plastic mould made to keep you still during the treatment sessions.

The position that you are in for this scan is the same position that you will be in for your treatment. Let a member of the team know if you are struggling to maintain this position. It can be more difficult to change once you have had the scan.

The radiotherapy machine is called a linear accelerator. To have the treatment you lie on the radiotherapy couch. The therapeutic radiographers will help you to get into the right position. 

Once you are in the right position the radiographers leave you alone in the room. This is so they are not exposed to radiation. You will be alone for a few minutes. They can see and hear you the whole time. 

It is important that you keep still and breathe normally. Sometimes there may be a delay in starting the radiotherapy. This is due to the radiographers taking an x-ray before treatment to check your position.

You can't feel the radiotherapy. It doesn’t hurt but you may find it uncomfortable to lie in position during the treatment. This is because the radiotherapy couch can be quite hard. Ask a member of the health care team if you can take a painkiller half an hour beforehand if you think it might help.

You might have a single treatment or a series of daily treatment sessions, Monday to Friday for up to 2 weeks.

Hemibody irradiation

You might have hemibody irradiation if you have a lot of areas of secondary bone cancer.

Hemibody irradiation involves having external radiotherapy to the whole body. You have radiotherapy to the upper body. And then 2 to 4 weeks later you have treatment to your lower body. 

To have this treatment your bone marrow needs to be working well. It is an uncommon treatment these days.

Internal radiotherapy with radiotherapy liquids (radioisotopes)

Your doctor might suggest internal radiotherapy with radioactive liquids for bone cancer that has spread from the prostate. You might have radioactive strontium or radium 223.

You have them as an injection. The radioactive liquid is picked up by the cancer cells in the bone. 

The radiation from the injection only lasts a few days in your body. It is only a small amount but can help to control bone pain. 

Read more about internal radiotherapy with radioactive liquids

Side effects

The side effects with this treatment are usually mild. Radiotherapy for bone pain aims to relieve symptoms and so the amount of radiotherapy you receive is usually low. Different treatments cause different side effects.