- Radiotherapy
is a very powerful, valuable tool used to treat cancer. Many of the
side effects during therapy stages are reversible once treatment has
concluded. However, it can also have devastating permanent effects
which may only become apparent some months or even years later due to
physical damage caused by the radiation. This possibility is often not
discussed at the commencement of the treatment, or even envisaged.
Treatment may be so urgent, that damage to other organs is almost
inevitable. If there is the luxury of time, then shields could be
implanted or organs moved aside for the duration of the treatment.
- If
you have been permanently damaged by radiotherapy and you would like to
be in contact with people in similar situations, then
please click
here to get to our contact page. This provides a
link to our online support group. We currently (April 2010) have around
150 members. People interchange their
experiences about the ways they have found best to live with the
problems caused by radiotherapy injuries. Your
experience might have parallels with someone else, or vice-versa.
- Elsewhere
in this site you will find other information and external links about
radiotherapy damage and the ways in which people may be
helped.
- It
is has never been our intention to set out to litigate against
practitioners for
the damage caused, but to provide support to one another in living with
the longer term consequences of radiotherapy.
- The
problems are recognised, though sadly not widely enough. Many
references now appear on the internet (maybe you got here from an
internet search), and cases present increasingly to doctors as people
live longer following successful cancer treatment. It is the aim of
radiotherapy practitioners to improve techniques to minimise damage to
surrounding organs or tissue without compromising the efficacy of the
treatment.
- The
main thrust is to gather together experiences from people similarly
affected, such that all participants may gain from the measures they
may have found useful in dealing with particular aspects of the
suffering involved.
- Cancer
specialists and their teams need to be encouraged to form working
groups to study this subject in order to bring it to greater
prominence, and to
learn how to deal with problems when they occur. Indeed, a Doctor known
to us here in the UK
is one of those working successfully to raise awareness in the
profession.
- We
would like to encourage one or more Doctors in the field who recognise
radiotherapy damage as a problem, preferably who see patients affected,
who would be willing to be involved in this interchange of experiences.
This would hopefully benefit them and their patients, and obviously
other
participants in this contact
network.
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