Background: Cancer disease is one of the most common diseases in Sweden andRadiotherapy is one of the regimens available for the treatment of cancer. Radiotherapycan be delivered as single treatment or be divided into several fractions that last forweeks. Radiotherapy can cause side effects that may occur during or at the end oftreatment. Information and communication is an integral part of all treatments and care.The oncology nurse should attempt to ease for the patients to communicate, participatein the care, receive information and enhance the ability to self-care.Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the patients? needs for communication andinformation with oncology nurse during their meeting through Radiotherapy.Method: This pilot study was conducted on six patients with different cancer diagnosis.It was a qualitative study, were data was collected through individual interviews usingsemi-structured questions.

Jönköping Small Animal Hospital is today the only clinic in Sweden to offer radiation therapy as a treatment of tumours. The body contains of billions of cells that all have to obey the regulations that are established. If a cell is exposed to a harmful substance, for example a chemical, it can be transformed into a tumourcell. Normally the body has a good defence but the tumourcell can survive and start to divide unrestrained. A tumour is starting to develop.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the support program, given to cancer patients in order to promote their own efforts to quit smoking and to study if they kept their changed cigarette consumption 6-18 months after their cancer treatment was done.Method: We have used a descriptive qualitative method with semistructured interviews which were made in the spring of 2010 at Uppsala University. The informants in this study were smoking cancer patients which had been given Radiotherapy at the oncology department at Ryhov hospital in Jönköping, Sweden.The results showed that three out of eleven informants were still not smoking after their treatment ended. All informants agreed that information about the effects of smoking on their Radiotherapy were important.This study also showed that there are areas in which the support program could benefit from being changed. Of those informants who did not succeed in their efforts to quit smoking, many felt that the support should have been more direct in the sense that the staff should have followed up on their progress more frequently. These unsuccessful informants also stressed that the location for where the information was given could have been more private.

Introduction: Each year 1200-1300 patients are diagnosed with head neck cancer. Treatment that involves Radiotherapy can cause severe side effects for example trismus that affects quality of life.Purpose: To study health-related quality of life in patients who have undergone radiation treatment for head and neck cancer and participated in a intervention group who received training intended to prevent trismus or in a control group who received standard treatment.Method: This is a prospective study in which data is collected from 66 patients participating in a randomized study aiming to evaluate a training program to prevent trismus. Thirty three participated in the intervention group and thirty three in the control group. Both patient groups assessed health related quality of life (HRQOL) with EORTC QLQ C30 and QLQ-H&N35, at start and end of the radiation treatment, and at 3 and 6-months after completing radiation treatment.Results: There is no difference between the intervention and control groups regarding symptoms, functional status and global health, except for intake of nutritional supplements.  For both groups almost all scales measuring HRQOL deteriorated under the radiation treatment. However, 3 and 6 months after end of Radiotherapy HRQOL had improved and had returned to the baseline values.

Strålbehandling är i dag en vanlig behandlingsmetod för cancer. Strålskador i form av hudkomplikationer är så gott som ofrånkomligt och drabbar ett stort antal patienter. Dessa hudkomplikationer är ofta till stort besvär och obehag för patienten. Än idag finns oklarheter kring hur dessa hudkomplikationer bäst förebyggs och lindras. Syftet med uppsatsen var att beskriva sjuksköterskans omvårdnadsåtgärder för prevention och symtomlindring av hudkomplikationer, samt vilka andra faktorer utöver strålbehandling som påverkar uppkomst av hudkomplikationer.

Idag ges strålbehandling som bot mot många olika cancerformer i hela världen. För en patient som ska genomgå, genomgår eller har genomgått en strålbehandling uppstår många tankar, känslor, smärtor och andra upplevelser som sjuksköterskan behöver känna till för att kunna bistå patienten. Strålbehandlingen ger många biverkningar som i värsta fall kan bli bestående livet ut. Syftet: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva patienters upplevelser i samband med strålbehandling. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en allmän litteraturstudie.

Patienter som erhåller strålbehandling mot huvud- och halscancer drabbas i hög utsträckning av behandlingsrelaterade biverkningar. Oral mucosit, skada på munhålans slemhinna, är vanligt förekommande och kan påverka patientens grad av livskvalitet. Sjukvårdspersonal undersöker inte regelbundet munhålan och det kan därför dröja innan tecken på skada uppenbaras. Syftet med denna uppsats var att beskriva omvårdnadsinterventioner vid oral mucosit i samband med strålbehandling mot huvud- och halscancer. Vidare att beskriva om standardisering av omvårdnaden kan lindra behandlingsrelaterad oral mucosit.