About Brachytherapy

Derived from ancient Greek words for short distance (brachy) and treatment (therapy), it is sometimes called seed implantation and is an outpatient procedure used in the treatment of different kinds of cancer. Radioactive “seeds” are carefully placed inside of the cancerous tissue and positioned in a manner that will attack the cancer most efficiently. Brachytherapy has now been used for over a century. Some of the diseases now treated with brachytherapy include prostate cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and coronary artery disease. Brachytherapy has been proven to be very effective and safe, providing a good alternative to surgical removal of the prostate, breast, and cervix, while reducing the risk of certain long-term side effects.

In the treatment of prostate cancer, the radioactive seeds are about the size of a grain of rice, and give off radiation that travels only a few millimeters to kill nearby cancer cells. With permanent implants (for example, prostate) the radioactivity of the seeds decays with time while the actual seeds permanently stay within the treatment area.

Ophthalmic Plaque Radiation Therapy is the most widely used treatment for choroidal melanoma and delivers a low energy (23-28kv) radiation dose to the tumor (with relatively less radiation to surrounding healthy tissues). The radioactive plaque can also be called a “radiation implant” or “radioactive source.”

Ophthalmic plaque radiation therapy is typically used alone. In certain cases your physician may want to add laser photocoagulation. The radiation sources used for ophthalmic plaque radiation therapy come in the form of small "rice-sized" radioactive seeds. These seeds are attached within a gold or steel bowl with a polymer disk called a plaque. The gold or steel bowl allow the radiation to be focused on the tumor

When possible, many centers offer radiation as an eye and vision-sparing alternative for patients with intraocular cancer. The two main types of radiation are plaque radiotherapy and external beam.

External beam radiation is commonly used for retinoblastoma (a childhood eye cancer), choroidal melanoma (in several centers) and for metastatic tumors (that have spread from another part of the body to the eye).

The dose of radiation delivered to the tumor is determined by the type, number and strength of the seeds used and length of time of the implant. The dose will also depend on the size of the tumor and its location. Make sure your eye cancer specialist has performed a comparison between various types of available eye plaques (e.g. iodine-125, palladium-103 and cesium-131) before surgery. Though both can destroy the tumor, the plaque that delivers less radiation to your macula, optic nerve and fovea will offer you the best chance of keeping your vision (over time).

Placement of the plaque is performed in the operating room. During the procedure, the eye cancer specialists will attach the plaque to the wall of the eye, covering the base of the intraocular tumor.

In the low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy procedure, the patient is treated with radiation delivered at a continuous rate over several hours or days. This treatment may be delivered using a manually or remotely afterloaded implant. A patient receiving LDR brachytherapy stays overnight at the hospital so the delivery device can remain in place throughout the treatment period.

Contact a Triad Representative:

Michael Tompkins, Director, Brachytherapy Sales
phone: (239) 277-0990
cell: (239) 872-1214
toll-free: (800) 690-9098
email: mtompkins@triadisotopes.com