EVALUATION OF SIDE EFFECTS AFTER RADIOTHERAPY TREATMENT IN ELDERLY IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The scientific research is a study on the effects felt by the elderly due to radiotherapy treatment, which seeks to understand the side effects that radiotherapy treatment causes in the elderly, and how this affects their quality of life. Therefore, professionals who work in radiotherapy treatment need to have sufficient attention and knowledge about the consequences that this treatment causes in the elderly. Thus, the research theme has the following guiding question: What are the main side effects after radiotherapy treatment in the elderly? Thus, the general objective is to present the adverse reactions that radiotherapy causes in the elderly. The specific objectives are: to contextualize the side effects of radiotherapy in the elderly; to understand how these side effects affect the quality of life of the elderly. The methodology used in this scientific article was bibliographic in nature, composed of scientific articles, books, documents, master's dissertations and doctoral theses, found from databases such as: Scielo, Medline, Google Scholar and Virtual Health Library (BVS), PubMed and books. The research result consisted of identifying and describing the most common side effects of radiotherapy in the elderly, such as fatigue, loss of appetite, skin changes (burns), nausea, cognitive changes, digestive problems and psychological effects, such as anxiety and depression.