MedicalConspiracies- Long term side effects of radiotherapy

Long term side effects of radiotherapy

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/treatment/radiotherapy/follow-up/long-term-side-effects-of-radiotherapy

This page tells you about the long term side effects that radiotherapy can sometimes cause. You can find information about

• Possible long term effects
• Preventing side effects
• Newer ways of giving radiotherapy

 

 

Possible long term effects

All cancer treatments can have long term side effects. Depending on the area of the body you have treated, you may have any of these changes after radiotherapy

• Your skin may look darker in the treated area – as if it is suntanned
• Your skin may feel different to touch
• Your hair may grow back a different colour or texture in the treatment area
• You may have permanent hair loss within the treated area
• You may develop red spidery marks on your skin (telangiectasia) caused by small broken blood vessels
• Drainage channels to the arms or legs can become partly blocked resulting in swelling calledlymphoedema
• You may be unable to become pregnant or father a child if your ovaries or testicles were in the radiotherapy field

Radiotherapy makes tissues less stretchy.  Doctors call this radiation fibrosis. How this affects you will vary depending on which part of your body was treated.  Fibrosis may cause

• Your bladder to become less stretchy and hold less urine if you have abdominal treatment, so you need to pass urine more often
• Your breast to feel harder to touch after breast radiotherapy
• Your vagina to become narrower and less stretchy after pelvic treatment – for information about preventing this, see the section about sex and fertility for women
• Arm swelling if your shoulder was treated
• Leg swelling if your groin was treated
• Shortness of breath caused by your lungs being less stretchy if you have treatment to the lungs or chest
• Narrowing of the food pipe (oesophagus) making it difficult to swallow, if your neck or chest are treated

Radiotherapy to the pelvic area may cause

• Bowel changes and diarrhoea – medicines can help to reduce this
• Bladder inflammation causing pain and a feeling of needing to pass urine
• Abdominal pain due to urine infection, bowel changes or fine cracks in the pelvic bones

These changes can gradually appear over a long time, sometimes several years. If you had radiotherapy in the past and are worried about side effects, ask to go back to your radiotherapy department and talk to the doctor.