Page 38 - PR 2014 2016 03 Applications of Ionizing Radiations

80 Application of Ionizing Radiations | Progress Report

Tissue Banks, as well as with experimental
and clinical applications of irradiated tissues.
Tissue samples were submitted to 15, 25 and
50 kGy doses and the impact of the irradiation
on the mechanical properties was evaluated
through the analysis of stress-strain and the
morphology was accomplished by ultra-struc-
ture studies, immune histology and others
histological tests. Also in our studies, we use
Figure 57. Human skin graft in Nude mice. 3D Optical Coherence
Tomography (OCT). non destructives tests, like optical coherence
tomography (OCT), with the Laser Applications
ionizing radiation for sterilization of human Center collaboration, with excellent results.
skin allograft, and to evaluate the skin after
gamma and electron beam irradiation, were
established. Besides implanting the irradia-
tion services routine to the tissue banks of the
country, the researchers developed irradiation
devices for human tissues; implanted dosime-
try procedures for irradiation processes control;
implanted the quality warranty program for
Figure 58. Macroscopic (A) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)
tissue irradiation; optimizing type and dose (B) analysis of human tendon.
to be supplied according to the preservation
process which the tissue was submitted. Bra- Development and production of radioactive
zil was incorporated to the IAEA project in sources for brachytherapy application
1998 through the Clinical Hospital of Sao Pau-
lo, where the Tissue Bank was installed and The number of prostate cancer cases in Brazil is
the Energetic and Nuclear Research Institute, increasing and only a small part of the patients
where the tissues are being irradiated. Until are submitted to brachytherapy treatment us-
2012, Brazil was the coordinator of IAEA ARCAL ing Iodine-125 radioactive seeds. Nowadays,
CVIII “Consolidation of Tissue Banks in Latin these seeds are imported at a high cost, restrict-
America and Radiation Sterilization of Tissue ing this application. The local production of
Allograft” project with 12 Latin Americans these radioactive sources became a priority in
countries participating and also, from 2010 to order to reduce the problems of prostate cancer
2016, our group participated in the CRP 16119 management for end users. Such action will
“Safety and optimization of radiation steriliza- permit to spread the use to a larger number of
tion in tissue banking: studies on functional patients. Due to such reasons; the Nuclear En-
properties of irradiated tissue grafts” and since ergy Research Institute established a program,
2014 we have taken part in another CRP 18283 in order to produce Iodine-125 radioactive seeds.
project, “Development and Evaluation of Mes- In brachytherapy, small seeds with Iodine-125
enchymal Stem Cell on Scaffolds for Skin Re- are implanted into the prostate to irradiate the
generation”, where we used tissue bank skins tumor. The Iodine-125 seeds consist of a welded
as the gold standard for our experiments. The titanium capsule (0.8 mm diameter and 4.5
research group has been collaborating with mm length) containing Iodine-125 adsorbed
the implementation of quality systems of the onto a silver rod. During the project execution,

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares