Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancers

Internal Radiation

Internal radiation or brachytherapy is the placement of radioactive material directly into or near your tumor. Before treatment your doctor will place one or two thin plastic tubes or catheters into your nose and into the airways of the lung where the tumor is located. The tube or tubes are then connected to a brachytherapy machine. The tube serves as a channel to deliver a dose of radiation by briefly placing a tiny radioactive source near the lung tumor. The source is often the size of tiny seeds or ribbons.

There are two different situations when this might happen:

After surgery:

• The surgeon works with the radiation oncologist to place strands of radioactive seeds into the area from where the tumor was removed. The seeds will remain inside of your chest forever, and over the course of several months will deposit their radiation into the area immediately around where the tumor used.
• Your doctor and your physicist will discuss with you if you need to take any short-term precautions, but typically there are no radiation safety worries from you to other people.

For tumors involving trachea or the bronchus:

• If you have a tumor that is involving one of your breathing tubes (trachea or bronchus), your doctor may place one or two thin plastic tubes or catheters into your nose and into the airways of the lung where the tumor is located prior to treatment. The tube or tubes are then connected to a brachytherapy machine.
• The tube serves as a channel to deliver a dose of radiation by placing a tiny radioactive source near the lung tumor for a short period of time. You may undergo between one and five treatment sessions on separate days.
• Because the radioactive seeds are removed at the end of each treatment and will not remain inside of you, there is no radiation hazard from you to other people.