ABSTRACT

Total body irradiation (TBI) is used primarily as part of the treatment for leukaemia, but

hemi-body irradiation can also be used for pain control. For the treatment of leukaemia, the aim

is to destroy the patient’s leukaemic bone marrow and then to replace it with a bone marrow

transplant. Systemic diseases such as leukaemia are usually treated with chemotherapy.

However, TBI is able to make two contributions to therapy (Barrett 1995):