This is a transcript of our 'Brachytherapy for cervical cancer' video.
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>> Speaker 1 - Dr Lizzy Mullen, Consultant Clinical Oncologist: Brachytherapy is a type of radiotherapy
and we sometimes refer to it as internal radiotherapy or intracavitary radiotherapy.
Because we deliver the x-rays internally, we aim to give a high dose of radiotherapy to the cervix
but limit the dose to the internal organs which surround the cervix
such as the bowel and the bladder.
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Different cancer centres will have different schedules when it comes to brachytherapy.
Here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, we normally deliver three treatments of brachytherapy in total.
This is normally done after five weeks of your chemoradiotherapy.
Then towards the end of the five weeks, we do a scan to assess your response
and determine whether brachytherapy is a suitable treatment for you.
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>> Speaker 2 - Sarah Stead, Brachytherapy Clinical Specialist and Therapeutic Radiographer: The brachytherapy team is a small team,
and it has a team of nurses, a team of doctors, a team of radiographers,
an anaesthetics team and a team of clinical scientists.
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Your brachytherapy appointments will be booked alongside your radiotherapy appointments,
so you'll receive additional letters for these.
There are a few appointments that you have to attend prior to brachytherapy.
One is an MRI scan, which will be in the fifth week of your radiotherapy,
and the other is a pre-operative assessment,
which will let us know if you're fit enough for anaesthetic.
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>> Speaker 3 - Kate Rossiter, Theatre Manager: So before you come in for your procedures,
we will expect that you'll have been fasted
and so what that means is that we expect hat you've not had anything to eat
normally from midnight the day before and just to drink water following that.
The water can be drank up to two hours before you come in.
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So normally the procedures will be done as a day case,
so that means you'll come in the morning and you will spend the full day with us
and normally by tea time-ish you're ready to go home.
Sometimes we may need to keep you in as there may be clinical reasons.
We could decide that beforehand, but sometimes it's on the day,
so we do ask that you bring an overnight bag in with you.
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In the morning you'll be brought straight into your own private room
and you will have a nurse per patient,
they'll be able to admit you and they'll ask a lot of questions
that probably a lot of people have already been through already.
Some of the other preparation is that we do expect the patients have an enema
and the reasons for that is we like to get rid of any gas,
but just anything else that may be left in the bowels.
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You'll come to the theatre suite, which is right next to the bedrooms
and you'll be taken into theatre or the anesthetic room
and you'll be checked in by the anaesthetic team,
which you've already probably met and
they'll go through similar questions again before they put you under anaesthetic.
So the anaesthetic actually is only about 30 to 40 minutes,
where you will have your applicator inserted as well as a catheter,
and then once that is complete you will be woken up in recovery.
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We will make sure that you're fully recovered from your anaesthetic,
you will however have to lie flat for several hours following this
because you will have your applicator in situ.
Our team will then escort you down for your MRI scan
and following that you will be brought back into your private bedroom.
In the bedroom again, you will have to lie there for long periods of time,
but we make sure we give you pain relief
and we'll give you plenty of food and drink if you feel up to it.
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>> Speaker 2 - Sarah Stead, Brachytherapy Clinical Specialist and Therapeutic Radiographer: An MRI scan will be taken after you've recovered from your anaesthetic.
We'll take you down to the MRI scanner, which is one floor below us.
The MRI allows us to have look at the position of the applicator
and also allows us to plan your treatment.
The brachytherapy planning will be done by your doctor and some clinical scientists,
they will draw around the area that needs some treatment
and they'll protect all the areas that don't need treatment.
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Once your treatment is ready, you'll be taken into the treatment room
and there will be two radiographers and a nurse in there.
We'll connect you up to the machine,
the machine has a small radioactive source
that will travel down a tube and into the applicator that's inside you.
Once the radiographers are happy, they will leave the room
and watch you from the cameras outside,
like the did during your radiotherapy.
If at any point you need us, you just need to give us a simple wave
and we'll come straight back in.
Once the treatment's finished, a radiographer and the nurse will come in
to remove the catheter and the applicator
and we will give you pain relief.
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>> Speaker 4 - Nada Morgan, Theatre Practitioner: Once you're feeling okay and you're up and about,
we ask that you pass urine and then you're free to go.
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Side effects from brachytherapy affect people differently.
You may feel tired and weak, so it's important to rest
in between appointments and after your treatment.
We'll talk to you in detail about any potential side effects,
but if anything is causing you concern or anxiety,
do let us know, we're happy to talk about it.
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>> Speaker 1 - Dr Lizzy Mullen, Consultant Clinical Oncologist: Once you've finished brachytherapy,
we will arrange a follow-up consultation after a few weeks
to ensure you continue to recover and plan your next steps in your management.
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