The MammoSite radiation therapy system is a novel technique for treatment of patients with early-stage breast cancer. It was developed to overcome the longer schedules associated with external-beam radiation therapy. It consists of a small balloon (4 cm in diameter) connected to an inflation channel and a catheter for the passage of a high dose rate 192Ir brachytherapy source. The device is pla...

Early stage oral cancer can be cured with oral brachytherapy, but whole-body radiation exposure status has not been previously studied. Recently, the International Commission on Radiological Protection Committee (ICRP) recommended the use of ICRP phantoms to estimate radiation exposure from external and internal radiation sources. In this study, we used a Monte Carlo simulation with ICRP phanto...

Several groups are developing ultra-miniature x-ray machines for clinical use in radiation therapy. Current systems are for interstitial radiosurgery and for intravascular insertion for irradiation to prevent re-stenosis. Typical generating voltages are low, in the 20 to 40 kV range. It is well established that the biological effectiveness of such low-energy photons is large compared with highe...

Introduction: The use of long-half-life Cobalt source instead of iridium source will be very helpful in HDR brachytherapy for treatment of cervical cancer. The aim of this study was compared the treatment time with cobalt and iridium source in brachytherapy for treatment of cervical cancer using Tandem-ovoid applicator. Materials and Methods: In this study, 19...

A Monte Carlo simulation using the PRESTA version of the EGS4 code has been employed as an investigative tool to calculate the absorbed dose in water close to 192Ir wire implants. It has been shown that a treatment planning system, such as GE Target II, using the Sievert integral and the Meisberger polynomial is only able to reproduce the Monte Carlo results at radial distances of 1 mm and fart...

Introduction: A study was performed to evaluate radiation dose distribution and dose gradient around cylindrical applicators for high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy systems with 192Ir, 60Co brachytherapy source applied for rectal and vaginal cancers treatments.   Materials and Methods: Two additional computed tomography (CT) based plans were generated using a ...

In the recommendations of Task Group #43 from American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM TG43), methods of brachytherapy source dosimetry are recommended, under full scattering conditions. However, in actual brachytherapy procedures, sources may not be surrounded by full scattering tissue in all directions. Clinical examples include high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy of the breast or ...