What to Know About Radiation Therapy for Bile Duct Cancer

You can't see or feel radiation, but it kills cancer cells.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiation can be used before surgery to shrink the size of a tumor. This may make surgery easier and more effective. It may also be used after surgery to kill any cancer cells that were missed or could not be removed during surgery. If surgery is not possible, you may have radiation to help ease symptoms.

There are 2 main types of radiation treatment. Either may be used to treat bile duct cancer. You are likely to receive chemotherapy combined with radiation.

External Radiation Treatment

When the radiation comes from a machine outside the body, it is called external beam radiation therapy. For this treatment, you see a radiation oncologist. This doctor specializes in the use of radiation to kill cancer cells. This doctor decides how often you need radiation and at what dose.

Typically, you will have radiation for 5 days a week, excluding weekends. Your treatment will usually last several weeks.

The person who gives you the radiation is a radiation oncologist. The experience is somewhat like getting an X-ray, but it takes longer.

Internal Radiation Treatment

You may also get radiation inside your body. This is also called brachytherapy. With the help of an interventional radiologist, a radiation oncologist inserts radiation seeds. The seeds are placed as closely as possible to the tumor or into the tumor itself so that fewer normal cells are exposed to radiation. With internal radiation, you may get a higher total dose of radiation in a shorter amount of time.

To have brachytherapy for bile duct cancer, you need to have a small tube, called a percutaneous transhepatic bile duct stent, put in place. The doctor places radioactive seeds on the end of a long wire. Using X-rays to guide him or her, the doctor carefully inserts the wire through your skin and down the stent to the area where the cancer is located. The wire that extends outside your body is secured to your skin. The wire is left in place for 24 to 72 hours. Then the doctor carefully removes it using X-rays again as a guide. You will need to stay in the hospital during the time the radioactive seeds and wire are in place.