External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is a treatment offered to many people with head and neck cancer. In EBRT, the radiation comes from a machine outside the body.
Having radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is carefully planned to make sure enough radiation reaches the cancer, while as little as possible reaches healthy organs and tissues.
During treatment sessions, you will lie on a table under a machine called a linear accelerator, which precisely delivers the radiation. The treatment is painless and is usually given Monday to Friday for 6–7 weeks. You usually won’t need to stay in hospital.
Wearing the mask
You wear the plastic mask for 10–20 minutes at each session. It helps you keep still and makes sure the radiation is targeted at the same area at each treatment session.
You can see and breathe easily, but it may feel strange and confined at first. Tell the radiation therapists if you have claustrophobia or the mask makes you feel uncomfortable – you can talk to someone or may be offered medicine to help you relax.
Linear accelerator
I had to wear a special mask to keep me totally still while the radiation treatment took place… I found this aspect of the treatment challenging. A combination of listening to music, light sedation and support from a psychologist helped a great deal.
Read more of Julie’s story
→ READ MORE: Side effects of radiation therapy
Podcast: Making Treatment Decisions
Listen to more podcasts for people affected by cancer
Key resource
Download a PDF booklet on this topic.
A/Prof Martin Batstone, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and Director of the Maxillofacial Unit, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QLD; Polly Baldwin, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council SA; Martin Boyle, Consumer; Dr Teresa Brown, Assistant Director Dietetics, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Honorary Associate Professor, University of Queensland, QLD; Dr Hayley Dixon, Head, Clinical Support Dentistry Department, WSLHD Oral Health Services, Public Health Dentistry Specialist, NSW; Head and Neck Cancer Care Nursing Team, Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC; Rhys Hughes, Senior Speech Pathologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Annette Lim, Medical Oncologist and Clinician Researcher – Head and Neck and Non-melanoma Skin Cancer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Sweet Ping Ng, Radiation Oncologist, Austin Health, VIC; Deb Pickersgill, Senior Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Queensland Sports Medicine Centre, QLD; John Spurr, Consumer; Kate Woodhead, Physiotherapist, St Vincent’s Health, Melbourne, VIC; A/Prof Sue-Ching Yeoh, Oral Medicine Specialist, University of Sydney, Sydney Oral Medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW.
View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.
