Senior medical physicist, Art Ewald positions the HDR brachytherapy device at the site of treatment for skin cancer.

Brachytherapy is a specialized form of radiation therapy. Conventional treatments use external radiation beams to deliver dose from a source located at a distance from the patient. “Brachy” comes from a Greek word meaning “short”. As opposed to external beams, brachytherapy radiation is delivered at a very short distance from the cancer site. In most cases this means delivering a radiation source inside the tumor itself.

While most brachytherapy treatments require invasive procedures, large benefits are gained by delivering the majority of the dose directly to the target site. This delivery system eliminates the need for the radiation to pass through normal tissue before making it to the tumor site. Dose to critical organs is greatly reduced and in some cases removes it completely. Another benefit of brachytherapy is that treatments are typically much quicker than external beam. External beam treatments generally run daily over the course of 6-8 weeks. High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy delivers dose much fast than external can. These treatments can last fewer than 2 weeks. Other brachytherapy procedures, such as, prostate seed implants require only one procedure to place the seed.

High Dose Rate treatment plan for breast cancer Brachytherapy radiation for breast cancer involves implanting a balloon catheter at the tumor site after the breast cancer tumor is removed. During therapy, the portion of the catheter that remains outside the breast is connected to a computer-controlled High Dose Rate (HDR) machine that inserts a radiation “seed” to deliver the therapy.