HDR Brachytherapy
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Video: Brachytherapy
BrachytherapyBrachytherapy
Cancer experts, Dr. Daniel Nader and Dr. Bernard Eden explain the benefits of brachytherapy, an innovative form of internal radiation. Learn how brachytherapy is used to treat lung and prostate cancer.
We use innovative radiation therapies to target cancer cells, while also sparing healthy tissues and organs. High-Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation therapy that delivers high doses of radiation from implants placed close to, or inside, the tumor(s) in the body. This technique ensures the maximum radiation dose is given to cancerous tissues, while minimizing exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue.
How Does HDR Brachytherapy Work?
Because cancer often affects organs that are essential to daily functioning, it is important for radiation treatment to be tightly focused on tumors to avoid serious side effects.
- Before each HDR brachytherapy treatment, we check the position of the catheters with millimeter precision.
- During treatment, our doctors insert tiny, hollow catheters directly into tumors to deliver a precise, three-dimensional dose of radiation.
- Next, a series of radioactive pellets are inserted into each catheter. Computer guidance controls how far the pellet goes into the catheter and how long the pellet stays in the catheter to release its radiation dose.
With a few well-placed catheters, HDR brachytherapy can provide a very precise treatment for cancer in just a few minutes.
Advantages of HDR Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy offers a quicker, more effective way to give radiation treatments for some patients. For many cancer types, the entire brachytherapy treatment takes 1 to 2 days, instead of 5 to 7 weeks for external beam radiation therapy (EBRT).
Depending on the type and stage of cancer, brachytherapy may be combined with other treatments, which can vary treatment times. In many cases, brachytherapy is a promising alternative to surgical removal of a tumor or the affected organ.
Radiation
- Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI)
- Amifostine
- Brachytherapy (see High-Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy )
- BrainLAB Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)
- Calypso® 4D Localization System™/GPS for the Body®
- 3D Conformal Radiation
- Contura™ Multi-Lumen Balloon
- CyberKnife® VSI™ Robotic Radiosurgery System
- Deep Tissue Hyperthermia
- External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT)
- High-Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy
- Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
- Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
- Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
- Intraoperative Ultrasound
- Large Bore CT/RT with Simulation
- Local Hyperthermia
- MammoSite® RTS
- Radiation Therapy
- Radioactive Protectants
- Radioiodine Ablation (see Systemic Radiation Therapy)
- Radiology Information System: All digital, paperless environment and voice recognition diction
- Radiosurgery
- RapidArc®
- Respiratory Gating
- Robotic Radiosurgery (see CyberKnife® VSI™ Robotic Radiosurgery System)
- Siemens / GE Multi-Modality Workstation
- Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)
- Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) / Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT)
- Stereotactic Radiosurgery in conjunction with Calypso®
- TheraSphere®
- TomoTherapy® HI-ART
- Total Body Irradiation (TBI)
- Total Marrow Irradiation (TMI)
- Trilogy™
- Varian Linear Accelerator with SRS, Respiratory Gating, RapidArc® and SBRT
- Varian Linear Accelerator iX with RapidArc®
- Varian Linear Accelerator Trilogy™ with RapidArc®
- Varian® Linear Accelerator TrueBeam®
