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Your treatment with radiation was mapped out.

Treatment with radiation is also called radiotherapy. Your radiotherapy involved the use of special radioactive substances. When these radioactive materials break down, they produce radiation. This is why these substances are also referred to as radiation sources. Your radiotherapy involved the radiation sources being placed very close to the areas needing to be treated. The rays only work in the immediate vicinity of the radiation sources and are intended to destroy diseased tissue there. This is to protect the surrounding tissue as much as possible.

Before radiotherapy, it is usual for the patient to have explained to them exactly how the treatment would proceed and possible side effects. Images of the body are also produced. These images are used to map out with a computer the areas that are to receive radiation.

During your radiotherapy, certain aids are used to bring the radiation to the desired areas. The form of these aids was considered during the mapping out process.