Treating Sheila's Tongue Cancer with Brachytherapy

Sheila Binti Mohd Arudin is a teacher from Laguna Merbok town. She is blessed to be a wife and a mother of three wonderful children. Sheila is passionate about education and has been teaching for many years. She strives to ensure that her students are given the best possible learning experience.

By sharing her story as she survived cancer, she wants to bring hope to anyone suffering from such a disease.

Tongue Cancer Diagnosis.

In August 2019, Sheila was diagnosed with tongue cancer, a shock she initially grappled to accept. However, she confronted her illness head-on with an open heart and sought the best medical solutions. After consulting with her specialist, she was advised that brachytherapy was the best option to treat her condition. Although she was understandably upset, she remained resolute in finding the best possible outcome for her cancer.

Brachytherapy to treat tongue cancer.

It was the first time Sheila had ever heard about brachytherapy. Her doctor further explained how brachytherapy could be used to treat her condition.

What is brachytherapy, and how does it work?

Brachytherapy, also known as internal radiotherapy, is a type of radiation treatment in which a radioactive substance is placed within or near a tumor inside the body. It is performed to precisely kill cancer cells while reducing the risk of unnecessary damage to healthy surrounding tissues and organs. In treatment for oral tongue cancer, the radiation is sent only to the cancer cells using a needle to inject the radiation.

Brachytherapy (BT) is an effective option for treating oral tongue cancer, either alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), surgery, and/or chemotherapy, for both initial and recurrent cases.

The benefits of brachytherapy.

Sheila thinks brachytherapy was the perfect care option for her, offering a range of benefits surpassing other treatment options. She says: "I believe brachytherapy is a very efficient and perfect treatment option for me."

Patients undergoing brachytherapy often report no pain during radiation sessions, as the treatment precisely targets the affected area while sparing healthy organs and tissue. This makes it an ideal alternative to surgery, as it is highly effective and requires a shorter hospital stay with minimal side effects.

Learn more about brachytherapy.

Sheila confesses that she researched brachytherapy to learn more about how it works, its side effects, and its effectiveness.

At Elekta, we know that gathering information may be overwhelming. We have created this resource website for patients and family members who want to learn more about treatment options for tongue cancer and other conditions. Learn from other cancer survivors like Sheila and read additional cancer patient stories on this page and perspectives from doctors here.

Brachytherapy gives hope to patients and families.

Sheila confesses that Brachytherapy helped improve her quality of life after the cancer diagnosis.

The minimal side effects and the effectiveness of this cancer treatment gave her confidence and the motivation to continue and live as usual. Today, she highly recommends brachytherapy as a treatment method for patients in a similar situation.

Even if it took around 1.5 years to recover completely, she is now so glad and excited with the treatment outcome, excellent efficacy, and improved quality of life after the treatment.

Today, Sheila hopes to continue living as usual with good health and optimal quality of life.