What are the complications of radiation/chemotherapy treatments?
Conventional radiation therapy (often referred to as “external beam radiation therapy”) has both short-term and long-term complications. The short-term complications are typically temporary, and include fatigue, loss of taste, and a skin rash over the treated area. Hair loss over the treated area is almost always seen, and may be reversible over the subsequent year. The long-term complications include some loss of memory and higher cognitive function. The severity of these symptoms is determined by how much normal brain tissue is also treated. Newer methods of applying radiation therapy have significantly lessened the severity of long-term complications. You should ask your radiation therapist if these newer methods (including “conformal radiation therapy,” “intensity-modulated radiation therapy,” and “CT TomoTherapy”) are available in your case. Conventional chemotherapy typically affects the ability of normal tissue to grow.
