My DH is VERY anxious and is unsure if targeted radiotherapy for rectal cancer is likely to have a significant impact on his immune response in a similar way to that from chemo.
My DH is VERY anxious and is unsure if targeted radiotherapy for rectal cancer is likely to have a significant impact on his immune response in a similar way to that from chemo.
Hi KateTee
Thank you for getting in touch. My name is Linda and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.
I’m sorry to read how anxious your DH is feeling just now, it can’t be easy for him.
But in answer to your question though we can’t say for definite, as we have no access to his hospital records or health history, it is unlikely that radiotherapy would have the same impact on the immune system.
Chemotherapy is a systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT), meaning it treats all of the body. This can have an impact on the function and volume of white cells in our body, which make up part of our immune system. This is why when we talk about chemotherapy we always highlight the risk of becoming more unwell than normal with infection. And in addition, people having chemotherapy are given a 24 hour telephone number to call if needed because of this risk.
Targeted radiotherapy is carefully delivered to a specific area and this means that with the exception of tiredness side effects tend to be localised to the area of treatment. It would be unusual for someone to be given a 24 hour telephone number to call during radiotherapy.
It might be helpful for your DH to look at both our information and cross reference this with Cancer Research’s pages about radiotherapy to the rectum. This might help him see that risk of infection is not mentioned. Though no one can ever rule this out as a possibility, if it were believed to pose a significant risk it would be documented in our information to help people make decisions about treatment.
If he has a Macmillan nurse or clinical nurse specialist it may be worth contacting them. As they can access his medical history they may be able to offer further reassurance. In the absence of a nurse, it might be worth asking to speak with someone from the radiotherapy team for further advice.
To help with the anxiety it is a good idea to encourage your husband to speak with his GP for support, if he hasn’t done this. It’s likely his GP won’t be surprised and may be able to help.
And if he would like to look at specialist emotional support, from Macmillan, it might help to show him our information about this.
I hope this information is helpful but if you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.
Best wishes,
Linda, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us.
Ref LM/DS
