Partial breast irradiation (PBI) by either brachytherapy or external beam (EB) therapy is frequently used for the treatment of certain populations of breast cancer patients. The claim that brachytherapy is better than EB for PBI is the Proposition debated here. Advantages claimed for brachytherapy for PBI include: • brachytherapy is associated with smaller treatment volumes, lower integral dose...

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 The incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) has been increasing over the past 30 years. There are different treatment options and surgical excision is the most frequent treatment due to its low rates of recurrence. Radiotherapy is an effective alternative of surgery, and brachytherapy (BT) might be a better therapeutic option due to high radiation dose concentration to the tumor wi...

PURPOSE To retrospectively compare the potential dosimetric advantages of a multichannel vaginal applicator vs. a single channel one in intracavitary vaginal high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy after hysterectomy, and evaluate the dosimetric advantage of fractional re-planning. MATERIAL AND METHODS We randomly selected 12 patients with endometrial carcinoma, who received adjuvant vaginal cuff ...

PURPOSE Historically, treatment of malignant surface lesions has been achieved with linear accelerator based electron beams or superficial x-ray beams. Recent developments in the field of brachytherapy now allow for the treatment of surface lesions with specialized conical applicators placed directly on the lesion. Applicators are available for use with high dose rate (HDR)(192)Ir sources, as w...

Inherently, brachytherapy is the most conformal radiotherapeutic technique. As an aid to brachytherapy, ultrasonography (USG) serves as a portable, inexpensive, and simple to use method allowing for accurate, reproducible, and adaptive treatments. Some newer brachytherapy planning systems have incorporated USG as the sole imaging modality. Ultrasonography has been successfully used to place app...

PURPOSE This multicenter, retrospective study evaluated treatment and clinical outcomes of patients with early stage breast cancer who received adjuvant high-dose rate (HDR) electronic brachytherapy (EBT) treatment post-lumpectomy using the Axxent(®) EBT system. Dosimetric data from the EBT treatment plans were compared with those based on iridium-192 HDR brachytherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS M...

Using theoretical models based on radiobiological principles for the design of new treatment schedules for HDR and PDR brachytherapy, it is important to realise the impact of assumptions regarding the kinetics of repair. Extrapolations based on longer repair half times in a continuous LDR reference scheme may lead to the calculation of dangerously high doses for alternative HDR and PDR treatmen...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to report the clinical results of uterine cervical cancer patients treated by primary radiation therapy including brachytherapy, and investigate the role of interstitial brachytherapy (ISBT). MATERIAL AND METHODS All consecutive uterine cervical cancer patients who were treated by primary radiation therapy were reviewed, and those who were treated by ISBT wer...

PURPOSE The literature and experience of high-dose-rate (HDR) surface mould brachytherapy (SMB) in head and neck cancer is sparse. We report our institutional experience of SMB for such tumours. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-five patients with malignant localized early T1/T2, N0 (21 intra-oral and 14 skin) tumours treated with SMB during 2008-2014 were analyzed. Treatment was delivered using HD...