Radiotherapy in Gynecological Cancers

• Published in: Nükleer tıp seminerleri (Online) 2022-11, Vol.8 (3), p.190
• Main Authors: Özkurt, Selnur, Ali Osman Uysal, İbiş, Kamuran
• Format: Article
• Language: Turkish
• Subjects: Endometrial cancer; Genital cancers; Gynecological cancer
• ISSN: 2149-6447
• DOI: 10.4274/nts.galenos.2022.0022

Radiotherapy (RT) is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells. External RT is a type of radiation therapy that uses a machine to aim high energy X-rays at the cancer from outside of the body. Brachytherapy (BrT) is the method of treatment performed by passing a radioactive source through an applicator, tube or needle placed in or near of the tissue or in the body cavities to be treated. External RT and BrT are important treatment modalities in the treatment of gynecological tumors. For patients with gynecologic malignencies, RT is often an integral component of multi-modality management and can be delivered in the preoperative, definitive, adjuvant, and palliative setting. Adjuvant RT is used in endometrial, cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers. Medically inoperabl endometrial cancer, cervical and vulvar cancers are mostly treated with definitive RT. On the other hand, palliative RT can be applied for symptom palliation in all patients with gynecological malignancies that cause bleeding, vascular structure or nerve tissue compression and can not tolerate more radical treatment options with their current condition. Imaging techniques may be used to assist in diagnosis, staging, and follow-up of oncology patients. Magnetic rezonans imaging and positron emission tomography (PET) play central and complementary roles in the care of patients with gynecologic cancer. While magnetic resonance imaging is frequently used to evaluate the local stage in determining the treatment of gynecological tumors, positron emission tomography (PET) is preferred to evaluate the systemic status. It is important in the process management to evaluate the treatment of gynecological tumors by evaluating the examination findings, imaging and pathological data in multidisciplinary tumor boards. PET/CT is an indispensable imaging method in RT applications for evaluation of lymph node metastases, distant metastasis scanning and localization of the primary tumor.