Page 84 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

84 Application of Ionizing Radiations | Progress Report

tion Technology Center, procedures using two destructives tests, like optical coherence to-
sources of ionizing radiation for sterilization mography (OCT), with the Laser Applications
of human skin allograft, and to evaluate the Center collaboration, with excellent results.
skin after gamma and electron beam irradi-
ation, were established. Besides implanting
the irradiation services routine to the tissue
banks of the country, the researchers devel-
oped irradiation devices for human tissues;
implanted dosimetry procedures for irradia-
tion processes control; implanted the quality
warranty program for tissue irradiation; opti-
Figure 58. Macroscopic (A) and Optical Coherence To-
mizing type and dose to be supplied accord- mography (OCT) (B) analysis of human tendon.
ing to the preservation process which the tis-
sue was submitted. Brazil was incorporated to Development and production
the IAEA project in 1998 through the Clinical of radioactive sources for
Hospital of Sao Paulo, where the Tissue Bank brachytherapy application
was installed and the Energetic and Nuclear
Research Institute, where the tissues are be- The number of prostate cancer cases in Brazil
ing irradiated. Until 2012, Brazil was the coor- is increasing and only a small part of the pa-
dinator of IAEA ARCAL CVIII “Consolidation of tients are submitted to brachytherapy treat-
Tissue Banks In Latin America And Radiation ment using Iodine-125 radioactive seeds. Now-
Sterilization of Tissue Allograft” project with adays, these seeds are imported at a high cost,
12 Latin Americans countries participating restricting this application. The local produc-
and also, from 2010 to 2016, our group par- tion of these radioactive sources became a pri-
ticipated in the CRP 16119 “Safety and opti- ority in order to reduce the problems of pros-
mization of radiation sterilization in tissue tate cancer management for end users. Such
banking: studies on functional properties of action will permit to spread the use to a larger
irradiated tissue grafts” and since 2014 we number of patients. Due to such reasons; the
have taken part in another CRP 18283 proj- Nuclear Energy Research Institute established
ect, “Development and Evaluation of Mesen- a program, in order to produce Iodine-125 ra-
chymal Stem Cell on Scaffolds for Skin Regen- dioactive seeds. In brachytherapy, small seeds
eration”, where we used tissue bank skins as with Iodine-125 are implanted into the pros-
the gold standard for our experiments. The re- tate to irradiate the tumor. The Iodine-125
search group has been collaborating with the
implementation of quality systems of the Tis-
sue Banks, as well as with experimental and
clinical applications of irradiated tissues. Tis-
sue 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 his-
Figure 57. Human skin graft in Nude mice. 3D
tological tests. Also in our studies, we use non Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares