PURPOSE To analyze the seed loss and displacement and their dosimetric impact in prostate low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy while utilizing the combination of loose and stranded seeds. MATERIAL AND METHODS Two hundred and seventeen prostate cancer patients have been treated with LDR brachytherapy. Loose seeds were implanted in the prostate center and stranded seeds in the periphery of the gla...

The purpose of the present study was to assess the results of two different treatment approaches for clinically localized prostate cancer: intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) followed by 125I seed-implant brachytherapy and 125I seed-implant brachytherapy alone. We studied our 30 most recent consecutive patients. The sample population consisted of 15 cases treated with IMRT (50.4 Gy) fo...

Optimization of permanent seed implant brachytherapy plans for treatment of prostate cancer should be based on biological effective dose (BED) distributions, since dose does not accurately represent biological effects between different types of sources. Currently, biological optimization for these plans is not feasible due to the amount of time necessary to calculate the BED distribution. This ...

PURPOSE To investigate the treatment results for focal partial salvage re-implantation against local recurrence after permanent prostate brachytherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Between January 2010 and September 2015, 12 patients were treated with focal partial salvage re-implantation for local recurrence after low-dose-rate brachytherapy using (125)I seeds. The focal clinical target volume (F-CT...

Brachytherapy (derived from the Greek term brachios, meaning short) is defined as the treatment of tumors through the placement of radioactive sources into or close to the malignant lesion. The main advantage of brachytherapy is based on the inverse squared law inherent to radioactive sources, which allows the delivery of a very high dose of radiation to the tumor with a substantial sparing of ...

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men. An increasing number of these patients are seeking minimally invasive procedures such as transperineal interstitial permanent radioactive seed prostate brachytherapy. METHODS This paper reviews the historical perspective and the current advances in transperineal interstitial permanent radioactive seed prostate brachytherap...

PURPOSE To report outcomes on 5 patients treated with salvage partial low-dose-rate (LDR) 125-iodine ((125)I) permanent prostate seed brachytherapy (BT) for biopsy-proven locally persistent prostate cancer, following failure of dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective review of the Fox Chase Cancer Center prostate cancer database identified five p...

Brachytherapy treatment planning systems (BTPS) are employing the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 43 (TG-43)-recommended dosimetric parameters of sources, which are measured in water. The majority of brachytherapy implant volumes are not homogeneous media. Particularly, an implant with multiple seeds significantly changes homogeneity of the implant volume. Heter...