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BrachytherapyBrachytherapy, also known as sealed source radiotherapy or endocurietherapy, is a form of radiotherapy where a radioactive source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. Conversely, external beam radiotherapy, or teletherapy, is the application of radiation that has been externally produced by a linear accelerator. Brachytherapy is commonly used to treat localized prostate cancer and cancers of the head and neck.Brachy is from a Greek word for "short", so brachytherapy roughly translated is short distance therapy.Brachytherapy can be split into five main types:* Mold brachytherapy. Superficial tumours can be treated using sealed sources placed close to the skin. Dosimetry is often performed with reference to the Manchester system; a rule-based approach designed to ensure that the dose to all parts of the target volume is within 10% of the prescription dose.* Surface Applicator is usually called Strontium plaque therapy and is used for very superficial lesions less than 1 mm thick. The plaque is a hollow, thin silver casing that encloses a radioactive Strontium-90 powdered salt. The beta particles produced from Strontium's radioactive decay have a very shallow penetration. Typically the Sr90 plaque is placed on the bed of a resected pterygium. A stat dose of around 10-12 Gy is delivered by timing the contact. As the electrons only penetrate a few mm of air, radiation protection issues are slightly less but very different to other radiation sources. Cleaning the plaques that are placed on the eye sclera is required but must be gentle because the silver casing is thin and easily damaged. Strontium belongs to the same chemical class as Calcium, i.e., an alkaline earth metal, and so will co-locate in the bone if any strontium salt makes contact with the eye and is absorbed. Operators can prevent exposure to the beta rays by facing the applicator away from their bodies.* Interstitial brachytherapy. Here the sources are inserted into tissue. The first treatments of this kind used needles containing Radium-226, arranged according to the Manchester system, but modern methods tend to use Iridium-192 wire. Iridium wire can be arranged either using the Manchester or the Paris system; the latter was designed specifically to take advantage of the new nuclide. Prostate cancer treatment with Iodine-125 seeds is also classified as interstitial brachytherapy. For details of the gamma emitters please see commonly used gamma emitting isotopes.* Intracavitary brachytherapy places the sources inside a pre-existing body cavity. The most common applications of this method are gynaecological in nature, although it can also be performed on the nasopharynx.* Intravascular brachytherapy places a catheter with the sources inside the vasculature. The most common application of this method is the treatment of coronary in-stent restenosis, although the therapy has also been investigated for use in the treatment of peripheral vasculature stenoses. (From the Wikpedia article Brachytherapy.) Download PDF containing detailed information. Image ResultsLoading...
BioPortfolio Ltd. offers e-mail and postal lists for Brachytherapy scientists - we have details of around 1299 individuals working on Brachytherapy . This page has been viewed 902 times Recent Search Terms used to find this page: miami inserted radiotherapy | brachytherapy companies | brachy cancer cleveland clinic | brachytherapy companies | brachytherapy company | treatment of choroidal hemangioma by brachytherapy | treatment of choroidal hemangioma by brachytherapy | treatment of choroidal hemangioma by brachytherapy | brachy mesh | . Browse BioPortfolio's InDepth service - alphabetically: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z or by Most Publications, recently searched for, or most viewed. Search for Brachytherapy across BioPortfolio, or for Brachytherapy Research Reports Wikipedia excerpt, where present, licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. Resources from the NCBI applied. Selected MeSH subject headings created and maintained by the US NLM are used in conjunction with additional keywords. 2006-2008 MeSH. Thumbshots from Thumbshots.org | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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