BACKGROUND Although (192)Ir intracoronary brachytherapy has been demonstrated to dramatically reduce the recurrence of in-stent restenosis, up to 24% of these patients will still require repeat target-vessel revascularization. The short- and long-term outcomes of repeat percutaneous intervention in this population have not been characterized. METHODS AND RESULTS Analysis was performed of all ...

AIM OF THE STUDY The (57)Co radioisotope has recently been proposed as a hypothetical brachytherapy source due to its high specific activity, appropriate half-life (272 days) and medium energy photons (114.17 keV on average). In this study, Task Group No. 43 dosimetric parameters were calculated and reported for a hypothetical (57)Co source. MATERIAL AND METHODS A hypothetical (57)Co source w...

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...

Recently it was speculated that ultrafine particles may translocate from deposition sites in the lungs to systemic circulation. This could lead to accumulation and potentially adverse reactions in critical organs such as liver, heart, and even brain, consistent with the hypothesis that ultrafine insoluble particles may play a role in the onset of cardiovascular diseases, as growing evidence fro...

Background: This study aims to calculate the air-kerma strength (SK), the dose rate constant (∧) and the dose rate profiles of a Gammamed 12i Ir-192 source by using the Monte Carlo technique and to compare the dose rate values with those calculated by the Abacus HDR treatment planning system (TPS). Materials and Methods: Air-kerma strength (in units of U; 1 U= μGy m2 h-1) and the dose ra...

Shielding design is necessary for brachytherapy treatment room in order to protect the general public and employees. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether the protective unit of our Brachytherapy Centre provided adequate protection to the health and safety assessment of radiobiological impact. In this study, we estimated the effect of radiobiological protection from a sing...