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Radiation
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High Dose
Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is the term used to describe the delivery
of internal radiation therapy as opposed to external beam
radiation therapy. Currently at MMC, we use brachytherapy
for treatment of gynecologic malignancies and prostate
cancer. Radiation dose is delivered by radioactive sources
in or near the tumor. Low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy
is from 0.4 - 2 Gray/hour. High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy
is greater than 12 Gray/hour and is usually around 150
Gray/hour. Generally, for a given dose, increasing the
dose rate will increase late effects much more than it
will increase tumor control. Fractionation of HDR brachytherapy
applications is used to achieve acceptable levels of tumor
control while not exceeding the normal late-responding
tissue tolerance.
The advantages of HDR brachytherapy over LDR brachytherapy
are:
- Shorter treatment time in an outpatient setting.
- Better optimization of dose distribution.
- No radiation exposure to medical personnal with
remote afterloading devices.
Current uses for HDR brachytherapy include:
- Vaginal dome implants for endometrial cancer
- Fletcher-Suit implants for cervical cancer
- Interstitial perineal implants for prostate cancer
- Partial breast implants
- Endoluminal implants for cancers of the lung, biliary
tree and esophagus
- HDR brachytherapy is an exciting new program which
we hope to add to our clinical practice at MMC so
that we can further enhance patient care. For more
questions please call Dr. Rodger Pryzant at (207)
885-7500.
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