Radiation therapy

I went private in Adelaide for 6 weeks of radiotherapy and was about $600 out of pocket after asking to be bulk billed. Might have been just a bit more. This was about 2 1/2 years ago. Always worth asking about different options and bulk billing. Things might have changed. Would have been happy to have had it in the public system. All the best. x

I’ll just add that there are always exceptions to the standard and your Radiation Oncologist and Radiation Therapists will always design the best treatment for your individual case.
thete is also a prone (laying on belly) technique for ladies with pendulous breasts where the breast falls through an opening, this is to minimise skin reactions in the inferior mammary fold.

The standard radiation therapy is 50Gy in 25 treatments using 6megavoltage photons, for larger ladies a mix of 6/18Mv May be used as 18mv is more penetrating. There is a new protocol from Canada which is 42.6Gy in 16 treatments (this is usually for smaller younger women). For ladies under 65 a “boost” to the lumpectomy site is used either 5 treatments (after the 25) or 4 (after the 16), this uses electrons which do not penetrate very deeply, the energy depends on the depth of site (usually 6mev or 9mev). Mastectomy patients are 50Gy in 25 treatments this is usually with electrons but may also be photons. Care is taken to
minimise dose to lungs, ribs, heart and liver - each plan is customised to your body using the CT scan done at your planning session.
I hope that helps :)

@Romla Thanks for the input. I am also planning to go private to avoid any delays. So roughly its around 1000 dollars per round of radiation !! One other question though, does the intensity and duration of radiation treatment vary or is it only the number of cycles that will vary based on individual diagnosis?

I went private in Adelaide - 16 rounds cost $17000 of which $2000 was not covered .I now know it it possible to blend private surgery and public radiation which some I know have done - wish I had known this at the outset as I would probably have done the same. The accounts dept at my private radiotherapy clinic initiated an interview with me before I started and provided a payment plan which spread costs over the radiotherapy cycle.

Forgot to mention also for free parking during treatment just had to remember we ticket every day.  That was a relief as that can add up 

No charge either as I was a public patient.

I went public and no charge.

Not sure I can answer that. Port Macquarie has the public hospital that is run by a private organisation isn't it? Your best bet would be to ring the hospital, and perhaps talk to someone from accounts. I had radiotherapy as a public patient in a public hospital, so it didn't cost me anything 
Take care
Lyn