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Radiation Therapy · Scan & Report Explainers
Understanding Your Radiotherapy Completion Summary — Decoded, Line by Line
The document handed to you on your last day of radiation is the one record of your treatment you will still need in ten years. Your radiotherapy completion summary states exactly what was delivered — the site treated, the total dose in Gray (Gy), the number of sessions, the dose that reached nearby organs, your dates and your follow-up plan. This page decodes those fields in plain language, so you know what you are holding and why it matters. It explains the terminology only; your own record is always read by your own treating team.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Venkata Sushma P, Radiation Oncologist, MBBS · MD (Radiation Oncology) · Last reviewed August 2026
- Every field explained in plain language — from total dose and fractions to organs at risk, boost phases and the signature block at the bottom.
- The six numbers that matter years later — because a body region can generally only receive a limited lifetime dose, and a future team needs to know what was already given.
- A copy list you can work through today — your family physician, any future oncologist, a radiologist reading a later scan, your dentist, your insurer, your relative abroad.
- Terminology only, never your diagnosis — this page never interprets an individual record — anything clinical goes straight back to your treating team.
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The short answer
What is a radiotherapy completion summary?
A radiotherapy completion summary is the written record your radiation oncology team issues on the day your course of treatment ends. It states which site was treated, the total dose delivered in Gray (Gy), how many sessions that dose was divided into, the technique used, your start and completion dates, and the follow-up plan agreed for you.
Different departments give it different names — end-of-treatment summary, treatment summary, radiotherapy record, or simply your radiation sheet. The heading changes; the content does not. What it is not is a scan report. It does not say whether your cancer responded, and it does not carry a prognosis. It is the factual record of what was delivered to your body.
That distinction is why this one page of paper outlives almost every other document from your treatment. A scan report is superseded by the next scan. A completion summary is never superseded, because the dose it records can never be un-delivered. Ten years from now, a doctor who has never met you can read it and know exactly what your body has already received.
The sections below decode the fields one by one, flag the numbers that matter years later, and list everyone who should hold a copy. This page explains terminology only — it never interprets an individual record, and every clinical question about your own summary belongs with your treating team.
Field by field
What do the fields on your completion summary mean?
Layouts vary between departments, but nearly every summary carries these blocks in some form. Find the matching row on your own document as you read.
| What the summary says | What it records |
|---|---|
| Patient details and hospital number | Your identifiers and the centre where your treatment was actually delivered |
| Diagnosis and site treated | The cancer type and the precise body area the beams were aimed at, including which side |
| Intent of treatment | The purpose recorded for the course — for example adjuvant after surgery, or aimed at controlling symptoms |
| Technique | How the dose was shaped and delivered — for example 3D conformal, IMRT, VMAT, stereotactic, or brachytherapy |
| Total dose (Gy) | The whole prescribed radiation dose delivered across the course, in Gray |
| Dose per fraction and number of fractions | How that total was divided into daily sessions, and how many sessions you attended |
| Boost phase | Any extra dose given to a smaller area after the main course, recorded separately |
| Start and completion dates | The first and last day of treatment — the anchor for every follow-up interval that comes after |
| Interruptions or gaps | Any days missed and the reason, since a course delivered without long breaks is recorded differently |
| Machine energy and image guidance | The beam energy used and the imaging performed before or during sessions to verify your position |
| Immobilisation device | The mask, board or moulded cushion used to hold you in the same position every day |
| Target volumes (GTV, CTV, PTV) | The nested outlines drawn on your planning scan — visible disease, the margin around it, and the setup allowance |
| Organs at risk and doses received | The healthy structures near the target, each with the radiation dose recorded against it |
| Concurrent systemic therapy | Whether treatment was given alongside your radiotherapy, and over which dates |
| Side effects at completion | The reactions noted on your last day, often written against a standard grading scale |
| Follow-up plan and next review | When you are due back, with whom, and which checks are planned |
| Doctor name, signature and date | The radiation oncologist accountable for the course — a summary without this is incomplete |
Did you know?
A written end-of-treatment summary is not a courtesy — it is a recognised part of survivorship care. Guideline bodies including NCCN and ASTRO recommend that patients finishing cancer treatment receive a written treatment summary together with a follow-up care plan, precisely so that later doctors, and the patient, can see what was delivered. That recommendation stands current as of 2026. If you were not handed one, you are entitled to ask.
The long view
Which numbers on my completion summary matter later?
Six items carry most of the weight years afterwards: the total dose in Gray, the number of fractions, the exact site and side treated, the dose recorded against each organ at risk, your completion date, and the technique used. Everything else on the page is useful context. These six are the ones a future team will look for first.
The reason is straightforward. A body region can generally only receive a limited lifetime radiation dose. Healthy tissue does not reset. If a team ever considers radiation near an area you have already had treated, they must know what that area has already absorbed before they can plan anything safely. Without your summary, that conversation starts from guesswork.
Your completion date does quieter work. Follow-up intervals, surveillance scan schedules and the expected timeline for late effects are all counted from the day your course ended, not from the day you were diagnosed. Getting that date wrong shifts every interval that follows it.
The technique matters for a different reason. Radiation leaves a recognisable footprint in treated tissue, and a radiologist reading a scan of that region years later interprets what they see very differently once they know how the dose was shaped and where it fell. The same appearance on a scan can be read as expected change or as something needing a closer look, depending on what the reader knows about the original plan.
Keep these figures legible. Reconstructing a dose record years after the event, from a department that has since changed its systems, is genuinely difficult — and sometimes impossible.
A common mix-up
Is my completion summary the same as my scan report or discharge slip?
No. These are three different documents and only one of them is your permanent treatment record. A scan report describes images taken on one day. A discharge slip closes an admission. A completion summary records the radiation dose your body received across an entire course.
Families frequently arrive at a second opinion holding a folder of scan reports and no completion summary at all, which is the one document the new team most needs. If your folder is thick with imaging and thin on treatment records, that is worth fixing before your next appointment rather than at it.
If you are unsure which document you are holding, look for the dose block. A page that states a total dose in Gray and a number of fractions is your completion summary.
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Get your completion summary explained, field by field
A radiation oncologist can walk you through every line of the record you were handed and tell you what to keep, copy and carry. Free, confidential, no commitment to start treatment.
What to actually do
How do I get my completion summary and check it is complete?
Work through this once, properly, and you will not have to do it again.
Ask the department that delivered the treatment
The dose record lives with the radiotherapy department that operated the machine. Ask there first, in writing to medical records if the department cannot issue it directly.
Check the identity block reads correctly
Your name, hospital number, diagnosis, the site treated and which side of the body. A wrong side on a permanent record causes real problems later.
Check the dose block is whole
Total dose in Gray, dose per fraction, number of fractions, any boost phase, and the start and completion dates. If any of these is blank, ask for a corrected copy.
Check the organs at risk section is present
This is the part most often missing from a short summary, and the part a future team will most want. Ask for it if it is not there.
Check the follow-up plan and the signature
An unsigned summary with no named radiation oncologist and no review date is a draft, not a record. Ask for the signed version.
Store it in two places and share it
One physical copy in a file you will still have in ten years, one clear scan saved digitally, and copies sent to everyone on the list below.
The copy list
Who needs a copy of my radiotherapy completion summary?
You keep the original. These are the people who should each hold a copy, and the reason why.
You
The permanent personal file
A physical copy and a clear scan. Every other copy on this list can be reissued from yours if a department loses its record.
Family physician
Where most later care happens
Your routine care for years afterwards runs through your local doctor, who needs to know what was treated and when.
Any new specialist
Second opinions and future teams
Any new oncologist or surgeon should see the dose record before advising you, particularly about treatment near the same region.
Radiology
Whoever reads your next scan
Expected change in treated tissue looks very different to a reader who knows the field and the dose than to one who does not.
Dentist
If your head or neck was treated
Dental work in a previously irradiated jaw is planned differently. Your dentist should see the summary before any procedure.
Insurer or scheme office
Claims, renewals and approvals
Scheme and insurance paperwork frequently asks for proof of the treatment delivered, with dates and the treating doctor named.
Family abroad
Whoever coordinates remotely
A relative arranging appointments from another country cannot help without the actual document. Send a clear scan, not a photo of a photo.
Your oncology team
Keep your team’s copy current
If your care moves between centres, make sure the team coordinating your follow-up holds the summary rather than assuming it travelled with you.
The vocabulary
Words on the summary that confuse people, decoded
General definitions, used the same way across radiotherapy departments. What any of them means for your own case is a question for your treating team.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fraction | One daily treatment session. The prescribed dose is split into fractions so healthy tissue can recover between sessions |
| Gray (Gy) | The international unit of absorbed radiation dose. Your summary records both the total and the dose per fraction |
| Hypofractionation | A course giving a larger dose per session across fewer sessions, rather than smaller doses across more |
| Boost | An additional dose delivered to a smaller area, usually after the main course finishes |
| GTV, CTV, PTV | Nested outlines on your planning scan: visible disease, the margin around it, and the allowance for daily setup variation |
| Organs at risk (OAR) | Healthy structures near the target whose exposure is planned, limited and recorded |
| Simulation or CT sim | The planning session where your position was fixed and the scan used to design your plan was taken |
| Image guidance (IGRT) | Imaging performed before or during sessions to confirm you are in the same position each day |
| Completed as planned | The prescribed course was delivered in full. A noted interruption records days missed and why |
| Cumulative or lifetime dose | The running total a body region has received, across every course of radiation ever given to it |
You don’t have to decode this alone
One conversation can make your treatment record make sense
Whether you finished radiation last week or five years ago, a radiation oncologist can explain what your completion summary records and who still needs a copy.
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Common questions
Your radiotherapy completion summary — questions answered
What is a radiotherapy completion summary?
A radiotherapy completion summary is the written record your radiation oncology team issues when your course of treatment finishes. It states which body site was treated, the total radiation dose delivered in Gray (Gy), how many daily sessions that dose was divided into, the technique used, your start and completion dates, and the follow-up plan agreed for you. Some centres call it an end-of-treatment summary, a treatment summary or a radiotherapy record. It is not a scan report and it does not say whether your cancer has responded. It is the permanent factual record of what was delivered to your body, and it is the single document every survivor should keep for life.
What do the fields on a radiotherapy completion summary mean?
Most summaries follow the same broad structure. Identity fields name you, your hospital number, your diagnosis and the exact site treated, including which side of the body. Dose fields record the total dose in Gray, the dose per session, the number of sessions and any additional boost phase. Delivery fields record the technique, the machine energy, the positioning device used and the image guidance performed. Safety fields list the nearby healthy structures, known as organs at risk, with the dose each received. Timeline fields record your start date, completion date and any gaps in treatment. Finally, the summary records side effects noted at the end of the course, your follow-up schedule, and the name and signature of the radiation oncologist who treated you.
Which numbers on my completion summary matter later?
Six items carry the most weight years afterwards. The total dose in Gray and the number of sessions describe the intensity of what was delivered. The exact anatomical site and the side of the body describe where. The dose recorded against each organ at risk matters because a body area can generally only receive a limited lifetime radiation dose, so any future team considering treatment near the same region needs to know what has already been given. Your completion date anchors every follow-up interval. The technique used helps a radiologist reading a future scan understand the pattern of change they are looking at. Keep these figures legible, because reconstructing them years later is difficult.
Who needs a copy of my radiotherapy completion summary?
You need the original, stored somewhere permanent. Your treating oncology team keeps its own copy, but you should not rely on that alone. Give a copy to your family physician, because most of your later routine care happens there. Carry a copy to any second opinion or any new oncologist or surgeon you consult. Hand a copy to the radiologist or the department performing any future scan of the same region. If your head or neck was treated, your dentist needs it before any dental work. Your insurer or scheme office may ask for it when settling or renewing cover. If a relative abroad helps coordinate your care, send them a scanned copy too.
What should I do if my completion summary is missing or incomplete?
Ask first at the centre where your radiotherapy was delivered, because the treatment record lives with the department that operated the machine. Request it in writing from medical records if the department cannot issue it directly. If the copy you hold is missing the dose block, the organs at risk section, the treatment dates or the treating doctor signature, go back and ask for a complete version rather than accepting a partial one. Do not attempt to fill gaps from memory, and do not rely on a discharge slip in its place. If you are unable to obtain it, bring whatever documents you do hold to your next consultation so your team can help you request the rest.
Can CION explain my own completion summary to me?
Yes. A radiation oncologist at CION Cancer Clinics can sit with your document and explain what each field records, in plain language, so you understand the record you are keeping. Interpretation of your own clinical situation always stays with your treating team, and anything on the summary that raises a clinical question is routed back to them. Your radiotherapy is delivered at an NABH-accredited partner centre while CION Cancer Clinics coordinates your treatment plan, your oncology team and your care throughout, so we are used to reading summaries issued by partner departments and helping families understand them.
This page explains the terminology used on a radiotherapy completion summary in general. It does not interpret any individual record. Only your own treating team can tell you what your specific summary means for your care.