Bladder cancer treatment with radiotherapy

In the past, radiation therapy wasn’t suitable for treating bladder cancer. Mainly, the urinary bladder moves slightly inside the lower abdomen every time the patient breathes. So, focusing ionizing exposure beams on the urinary bladder tumor was almost impossible, and the treatment had low efficiency. Still, technologies for radiotherapy developed nowadays. Most hospitals now have 3D treatment planning systems and tools that can detect any movement of a patient's organs while they breathe. So, radiotherapy is currently actively used for urinary bladder cancer treatment. It often becomes a part of so-called adjuvant therapy (additional, not primary, therapy) after the surgical treatment of bladder cancer. The main goal of radiotherapy, in this case, is to prevent relapses, and it often mixes with chemotherapy for better effects. Still, in some cases, radiotherapy might become a primary treatment method, especially when patients with bladder tumors aren’t applicable for surgeries or experience severe pains. External beam radiation therapy is the best radiotherapy option for bladder cancer treatment. During the treatment session, patients are placed on the table with the complex apparatus of the radiation source moving around. The data of their 3D treatment plans are uploaded into the apparatus, which moves and sends radiation beams into particular cities, avoiding damaging healthy tissues.