Hello,
My husband is on his last 10 radiaition treatments. At his last appointment the tech said something to him that his last week are boost treatments. Any one have any idea what that means? Thanks

I am finishing my boost treatments now. The dr. and tech told me that the boost is more localized radiation. They focus more on the tumor location itself (therefore smaller are is being radiated) vs. the wider area of radiation they do the first 5 weeks of treatment (what they did for me). They also told me that the boost is not an additional amount of radiation.

I was under the impression that the "boost" was additional radiation. The standard dose is between 60 and 72 cGy and with "boost" it can be as high as 81 cGy. I'm seeing my RO next week so I will be sure to ask her again in case I misunderstood. Maybe it's a little of both.

The "boost" that my husband received was, per his ROs, three days of radiation focussed specifically on the primary tumor area (right tonsillar fossa and base of tongue) and was not additional radiation -- that is, he received a total of 66 cGy in 33 treatments, the last three being the boost -- but the daily dose (2 cGy) for those three days was more focussed, so would assume that it was also more concentrated.

Gail

Gail's understanding is also my understanding of what a "boost" is. I didn't have one for my head and neck radiation--it was the same radiation plan every day-- but I did have a boost for radiation for the breast cancer and it wasn't additional radiation but 5 days (in that case) of more focused radiation.

Nelie

I guess my confusion is that because my tumor had completely melted and vanished by the 3rd week of radiation in the CT scan so there wasn't anything left to irradiate?!?!? My RO informed me that there were many other places they were irradiating , the left tonsil and the "other" cast of characters, different nodal areas, etc.

That makes sense and that's also why I didn't have a boost, I think, was that I had already had the tumor removed surgically so the entire radiation plan I had was to take care of those other suspicious "cast of characters".

I also had a boost the last few days of radiation. I had no radiation at all on my "good" right side, and the radiation given to the left side where I had surgery was directed full force at where the tumor had been.