External beam radiotherapy

This is a treatment where high-energy X-rays are aimed at a cancer to cure or control it. The X-rays come from a machine called a linear accelerator. This is known as external beam radiotherapy. In early prostate cancer, the radiotherapy is aimed at the tumour in the prostate gland. The aim is to destroy the cancer cells, while doing as little harm as possible to normal cells. This is known as radical radiotherapy . See the booklet Understanding Radiotherapy for more details about the types of radiotherapy and possible side-effects.