How you prepare

Before your radiation treatments, you'll meet with your radiation therapy team, which may include:

• A radiation oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with radiation. Your radiation oncologist determines the appropriate therapy for you, follows your progress and adjusts your treatment, if necessary.
• A radiation oncology medical physicist and a dosimetrist, who make calculations and measurements regarding your radiation dosage and its delivery.
• A radiation oncology nurse, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, who answers questions about treatments and side effects and helps you manage your health during treatment.
• Radiation therapists, who operate the radiation equipment and administer your treatments.

Before you begin treatment, your radiation oncologist will review your medical history with you and give you a physical exam to determine whether you would benefit from radiation therapy. Your doctor will also discuss the potential benefits and side effects of your radiation therapy.

Before external radiation therapy

Before your first treatment session, you'll go through a radiation therapy planning session (simulation), in which a radiation oncologist carefully maps your breast area to target the precise location of your treatment. During the simulation:

• A radiation therapist helps you into the best position to target the affected area and avoid damage to surrounding normal tissue. Sometimes pads or other devices are used to help you hold the position.
• You have a CT scan so that the radiation oncologist can locate the treatment area and normal tissues to avoid. You'll hear noise from the CT equipment as it moves around you. Try to relax and remain as still as possible to help ensure consistent, accurate treatments.
• A radiation therapist may mark your body with semipermanent ink or with tiny permanent tattoo dots. These marks will guide the radiation therapist in administering the radiation. Take care when washing to avoid scrubbing away the marks.
• The dosimetrist, the radiation physicist and the radiation oncologist use computer software to plan the radiation treatment you will receive. Once the simulation and planning are complete and multiple quality assurance checks are done, you can begin treatment.

Before internal radiation therapy

Before internal radiation therapy (brachytherapy) is started, a special device for placement of the radioactive material is placed in the area where the cancer was removed. This may be done during your cancer surgery or as a separate procedure several days later.