Brachytherapy is a common cancer treatment procedure offered at Piedmont that directly targets the cancer site, minimizing exposure to healthy tissue. The radioactive material is sealed in needles, seeds, wires or catheters and is directed into the area requiring treatment. One of the greatest benefits of brachytherapy is that radiation levels fall off very rapidly from the target site, making it a highly successful delivery method used to treat a wide variety of cancers.
Highly successful for many types of cancers:
- Prostate
- Cervix
- Endometrium
- Breast
- Bronchus
- Esophagus
- Head and neck
- Soft tissue sarcomas
Two delivery techniques
- Low Dose Rate (LDR) uses a lower strength radioactive source that is delivered at a continuous rate for a period up to several months. The most commonly used LDR treatment site is the prostate which involves permanent placement of tiny radioactive seeds in tissue in the prostate. The seeds are implanted during an outpatient procedure and the patient typically goes home the same day. The radioactive seeds decrease in strength over a period of time so they do not need to be removed once they are implanted.
- High Dose Rate (HDR) uses a higher strength radioactive source contained within an afterloader device. The afterloader delivers a high dose of radiation to the tumor in short bursts, about 10 to 20 minutes. This may be repeated a couple of times in one day. Upon completion, the delivery device is removed and the patient may go home. Patients may receive up to 10 separate HDR brachytherapy treatments over one or more weeks. Historically, HDR has been a common treatment for gynecologic and breast cancers.
Benefits
- Delivery of higher doses of radiation to more specific areas of the body
- Causes fewer side effects compared to external beam radiation
- Shorter treatment time