Page 38 - Brachytherapy

H I G H D O S E R A T E ( H D R )

HDR brachytherapy isn’t suitable for you if your cancer
using dose rate larger than 12.0 Gy/h
has spread (metastasised) outside the prostate to other

parts of the body. HDR brachytherapy may not be
HDR brachytherapy is the most common conformal

radiation therapy treatment for prostate cancer and offers suitable for you if you have severe problems urinating,
because the treatment can make these problems worse.
the greatest amount of bladder and rectal sparing. In These can include symptoms of an enlarged

addition, people with head and neck cancer, pulmonary prostate such as a weak urine flow or not emptying your

cancer, and other local regional tumors can be bladder properly.

considered for HDR brachytherapy on an individual

basis. HDR systems use a single source of 192Ir, with a

typical activity of 10–20 Ci (370–740 GBq), delivering

treatment dose rates exceeding 2 Gy/min.

During HDR brachytherapy, a single radioactive source

is temporarily placed inside the tumor for a few minutes,

and then removed. The source travels inside small

catheters controlled by a device called a remote

afterloader. Since the source position can be precisely

adjusted and we can create customized dose distributions

to meet each patient's needs, tumors can be treated with

very high doses of localized radiation while greatly

reducing the doses to surrounding healthy tissues. 34