Q: My 48 years old mother is diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 1 B2. She is undergoing radiation therapy treatment (3D CRT). Is this cancer curable? What are the side effects of this radiation therapy?

A:The stage of cervical cancer in which your mother is a highly curable disease with success rate of approximately 90%. She has received 3DCRT, which is conformal external beam radiation therapy. Her treatment is not complete without intracavitary radiation therapy (ICRT). Kindly check with your radiation oncologist about this treatment. A properly delivered radiation therapy does not lead to any late toxicities. However 5% patients may develop late radiation toxicities in the form of urinary and rectal bleeding, which usually occur between 1-2 years of completion of treatment.