Wednesday, July 6, 2011

HDR Brachytherapy: An Innovative Option for Cancer Patients

High dose rate (HDR) Brachytherapy is an innovative type of internal radiation therapy that delivers high doses of radiation implants placed near or inside the tumor (s) in the body. This technique allows the delivery of the maximum radiation dose to tissues harboring the cancer, while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.

How is it different from HDR brachytherapy low dose rate brachytherapy? HDR Brachytherapy is a procedure where you place the source of radiation for only a few to several minutes in the vicinity of the target volume. LDR brachytherapy include radioactive sources to be in the proximity of the target volume for days (temporary) or permanently implanted in the target volume (eg seed implant for prostate cancer).

What type of cancer can help this process? This procedure is commonly available for selected patients with prostate cancer, breast, lung, sarcoma, head and neck cancer, skin cancer and cancer of the cervix and uterus.

Do patients have to be admitted to the Hospital for this procedure? Most of the HDR brachytherapy procedures performed on an outpatient basis and requires no hospitalization.

How is this procedure? For the most part, this process is a collaborative effort between the surgeon and radiation oncologist. The surgeon places hollow catheter directly into the target tissue, such as breast, lung and prostate. These catheters are then connected to an HDR machine, which houses a small radioactive source that are less than a grain of sand. This source is placed in the catheter under computer control. The source remains in the catheter for a predetermined period of time that allows a precise amount of radiation dose to be delivered to the target volume. The source was subsequently removed from the machine and the patient can go home after the procedure.

Are patients radioactive after HDR brachytherapy procedure? The answer is no. Effects of radiation will remain on the target volume. Since the radiation source is removed from the patient once the procedure is complete, they are not radioactive and are free to move on with their lives unhindered.

How long does each procedure for each shot? The actual time that each HDR brachytherapy procedure usually can take between 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the complexity of the situation.

How many sessions are needed for a particular patient? This depends on each situation. Human Development Report of the breast, for example, takes place twice a day for five days and consists of 10 sessions of the procedure.

Do patients undergoing HDR brachytherapy need additional treatments to treat your cancer? Again, this depends on the situation. This procedure may be combined with surgery, chemotherapy and external beam radiotherapy for several weeks, according to the disease process being addressed.

Conclusion: Overall, the HDR brachytherapy offers a quick and effective way to give radiation treatments for selected patients with cancer. The key here is that patients talk to their doctors about cancer from this treatment option.

Dr. Kumar is a board certified oncologist, radiation which is co-founder of a group of private practice in Florida. He has over 17 years of experience dealing with cancer patients including several members of his family who have been affected by this disease.




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