Despite the absence of local prostate cancer recurrence, some patients develop distant metastases after prostate brachytherapy. We evaluate whether prostate brachytherapy procedures have a potential risk for hematogenous spillage of prostate cancer cells. Fifty-nine patients who were undergoing high-dose-rate (HDR) or low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy participated in this prospective study. Thi...

INTRODUCTION Brachytherapy plays a key role in the treatment of many gynecologic cancers. However, some patients are unable to tolerate brachytherapy for medical or other reasons. For these patients, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) offers an alternative form of treatment. METHODS Retrospective review of patients prospectively collected on SBRT database is conducted. A total of 11 gyneco...

AIMS AND BACKGROUND The present study evaluated toxicity, local control, and survival in patients with relapsed high-grade glioma after surgery and external beam radiation therapy and treated with re-operation and GliaSite brachytherapy. METHODS Between 2006 and 2008, 15 patients with recurrent high-grade glioma underwent re-operation and GliaSite brachytherapy. Ten patients were males and 5 ...

INTRODUCTION Cervical carcinoma has traditionally been treated with low-dose-rate brachytherapy. High-dose-rate brachytherapy was developed to overcome potential disadvantages of LDR brachytherapy (radiation exposure to medical staff, prolonged treatment time, mandatory hospitalization and applicator movement). Both, LDR and HDR brachytherapy have been combined with the external beam therapy (E...

Aim: To confirm the prognostic value of post-brachytherapy initial tumour regression rate in posterior uveal melanoma. Methods: A prospective, comparative, observational cohort study was carried out on 147 eyes (147 patients) with choroidal melanoma (mean age 61 years) treated with Ru106 brachytherapy. Observation procedure: Patients were followed clinically and ultrasonically every 6.7 (SD 0.3...

Cancer incidence and mortality depend on a number of factors, including age, socio-economic status and geographical location, and its prevalence is growing around the world. Most of cancer treatments include external beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy. Brachytherapy, a type of radiotherapy with energy from radionuclides inserted directly into the tumor, is increasingly used in cancer treatment....

Drs. Quon and Harrison have written an excellent review on the role of brachytherapy in the management of head and neck cancer. Brachytherapy is a time-honored technique, and the authors have carefully reviewed the pertinent literature extolling its virtues. However, there are many papers that fail to document efficacy of brachytherapy over conventional techniques, demonstrating that, similar t...

PURPOSE To recognize neuropathic pain as a complication of high-dose-rate (HDR) interstitial brachytherapy of oral tongue and to evaluate the possible causes of neuropathy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty one patients who underwent interstitial brachytherapy for early cancer of oral tongue were evaluated. The patients either underwent primary brachytherapy (42-48 Gy at 3-4 Gy/fraction) or a boost...

PURPOSE In radical radiotherapy for cervical cancer, high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is commonly used after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) to deliver a cumulative EQD2 of 80 to 90 Gy to the primary tumor. However, there is less certainty regarding brachytherapy dose contribution to the pelvic lymph nodes. This poses a challenge as to how high a preceding EBRT dose should be prescribe...

Brachytherapy was developed to treat prostate cancer 50 years ago. Current advanced techniques using transrectal ultrasonography were established 25 years ago. Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) has enabled the prostate to be viewed with improved resolution with the use of modern ultrasound machines. Moreover, the development of software that can provide images captured in real time has improved tre...