The radiotherapy treatment comes from an electrical machine called a ‘Linear accelerator’ and is directed as a beam to the part of the body that needs to be treated. Treatment is given daily over a period of days or weeks and you may hear people call these treatments ‘fractions’. They are just a fraction of your treatment dose and plan.
Immunotherapy is a biological therapy and type of targeted treatment that boosts the patient’s natural defence, the immune system, and enables it to find and destroy cancer cells found in the body. At Rutherford Cancer Centres, we use several different types of immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer, in order to prevent cells growing and replicating or spreading around the body.
Chemotherapy at the Rutherford takes place in our modern therapy suites, consisting of up to ten treatment areas offering treatment for haematology/oncology patients requiring systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) and supportive care in an outpatient setting. The infusion therapy suites are available for patients undergoing treatment for breast, urology, upper and lower gastrointestinal cancers, and both malignant and non-malignant haematology disorders.
Our immunotherapy treatments are often combined with chemotherapy as part of a combined treatment regime to offer personalised infusion therapy for our patients
Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy that uses the body’s immune system to better identify and attack cancer cells in the body.
Several different types of immunotherapy are currently used in the treatment of cancer to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells or prevent cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body. Immunotherapy is also referred to as a targeted treatment.
Cancer cells are not targeted by our natural defences as they can hide from the immune system, either by escaping defensive cells or by producing signals to cause the immune system to ignore the cells. Aggressive cancer cells can also overwhelm the immune system, preventing it from stopping the growth of cancer cells, even if they can be identified.
Immunotherapy works by encouraging the immune system to attack the cancer cells. This can be done by making cancer cells recognisable to the immune system or by blocking the pathways that cancer cells use to hide from our natural antibodies. Our immune system is our natural defence and has evolved to defend the body against illness, disease and infection without causing further damage to healthy cells. By using immunotherapy as a cancer treatment, we can provide the immune system with the necessary defences to work more efficiently against cancer.
Immunotherapy is currently delivered using four different methods, depending on the intention of the treatment.
All our Rutherford Cancer Centres offer immunotherapy within our Infusion Therapy Suites (for chemotherapy and immunotherapy patients). Our suites are designed around the comfort of our patients. They include a waiting area for patients and visitors, and individual treatment rooms along with refreshment facilities.
Depending on the type of cancer and the intention of the immunotherapy, patients should expect to spend several hours to a full day receiving a single treatment of immunotherapy when delivered intravenously. The length of the full immunotherapy treatment will vary depending on the individual patient’s situation and could potentially take place over a year or longer, depending on the spread of cancer cells in the body.
If you'd like to speak to us about any of the treatments we offer please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Call us on 0800 210 0402 or