Radiotherapy in treatment of larynx
These are mostly SCCs. Treatment is size dependent. Early stage laryngeal cancer may be removed via surgery (endoscopic) or radiotherapy alone. Larger tumors will require adjunctive/neoadjunctive radiology with surgery, in the latest stage cancers, chemotherapy may be used as well (chemoradiotherapy). Radiotherapy may also be used in isolation in cases where the patient is too ill to survive surgery and/or the patient is going to die and it is a palliative case.
Radiotherapy course takes 3-7 weeks, the most notable side effect is mouth ulcers with dry mouth which may never resolve itself. Patients may have dysphagia.
Two main types of radiation:
- External beam radiation (most common type)
- Brachytherapy (rarer in these cases)
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