Brachytherapy
Radioactive sources placed inside or near the tumor.
What is brachytherapy?
Brachytherapy is an internal radiation therapy that involves placing radioactive materials inside or near the tumor.
How does it work?
During brachytherapy, your radiation oncologist inserts an implant with radioactive material directly inside or as close to the cancer as possible. Your doctor uses special catheters or applicators to position the implant. Brachytherapy frequently allows your doctor to deliver the radiation to a smaller area than external beam radiation allows.
The main types of brachytherapy are:
- Intracavitary treatment: The radioactive source is put into a cavity or space where the tumor is located, such as the uterus or windpipe.
- Interstitial treatment: The radioactive source is inserted directly into the tissues, such as the prostate.
Low-dose rate brachytherapy gives the radiation over days to months. High-dose rate brachytherapy gives the radiation over several minutes, usually divided into two to five treatments.
Brachytherapy at Cancer Care Northwest
Cancer Care Northwest radiation oncology team offers an extremely high level of expertise and experience in innovative brachytherapy treatments.
High-Dose Rate Brachytherapy
Our radiation oncologists were the first in Spokane to provide high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy for treatment of prostate cancer, breast cancer and gynecologic cancers such as uterine cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer.
This fairly new method of treatment involves inserting a temporary catheter (or catheters) next to or directly into the cancerous tissue. The catheter serves as the channel for the delivery of extremely powerful doses of radiation in quick, short bursts by a tiny “radioactive seed” that is welded on the end of a wire. This is robotically controlled by a precise computerized delivery system.
High-dose rate brachytherapy delivers complete doses of radiation more quickly than in traditional brachytherapy, which gradually releases the radiation over a period of several days or months.
Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
Cancer Care Northwest is the only treatment center in the region to provide intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT). This approach treats tumors that may be difficult to remove entirely with surgery, or to kill remaining cancerous cells to avoid recurrence.
Working with your surgical oncologist, your radiation oncologist inserts a catheter into the tumor or into the tumor bed after surgical removal, and sends high doses of radiation to the cancerous region while you are in surgery.
Prostate Brachytherapy
Cancer Care Northwest is also the only cancer center in the region to provide temporary high-dose rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy.
This treatment involves placing temporary catheters into the prostate (called an implant). Small radioactive seed travels precisely through these catheters to the cancerous area in the prostate.
This procedure can be done alone (two implants separated by two to four weeks) or in combination with external radiation (approximately five weeks of external radiation plus one implant). With each implant, two treatments are given in the same day.
This treatment method has many advantages to the older technique of permanent prostate seed implant. The dose can be customized and delivered more quickly and accurately, reducing immediate side effects. No permanent radiation is left in the body. And since the radiation is delivered after the catheters are securely in place, the medical staff is not exposed to radiation.
Breast Brachytherapy (MammoSite RTS or Contura)
MammoSite is a type of breast brachytherapy in which your surgical oncologists inserts a balloon catheter into the cavity that was created when the tumor was removed from the breast (lumpectomy). MammoSite uses a single catheter to deliver radiation to the lumpectemy site.
Contura, similar to Mammosite, uses a balloon with multiple channels. After being inserted, the Contura balloon is inflated and filled with saline and then a vacuum is used to help the balloon fit closely within the often irregularly shaped lumpectomy cavity. A radiation seed is sent through five separate channels inside the balloon, allowing the radiation dose to be contoured to reach the targeted area. The dose is directed by where the seed sits in the balloon, allowing the physician to concentrate the radiation dose on the tumor area. With the advanced multi-channel design, more accurate treatment is achieved.
Breast Brachytherapy (multi-catheter technique)
The multi-catheter technique can be applied to any patient with an identifiable lumpectomy cavity. Any lumpectomy cavity size, shape and location within the breast can be treated with the multi-catheter technique. In this technique, a tiny radiation seed is guided into several catheters strategically placed to treat the entire cavity that was created by the lumpectomy. Cancer Care Northwest is the only center in the region offering this type of treatment.
Gynecologic Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is standard therapy for certain types of cervical cancer, vaginal cancer and uterine cancer. Working as team with the region’s only two gynecologic oncologists, our radiation oncologists serve as a regional referral center for standard treatment and challenging and difficult cases.
Other Brachytherapy Procedures
Cancer Care Northwest offers a wide range of treatment alternatives with brachytherapy including:
- Endobronchial (treatment of the airways of the lungs) to open up blockages from tumors.
- Esophageal (food pipe) to treat swallowing difficulty from tumor blockages.
- Brachytherapy for sarcomas (soft tissue tumors) and other complex or rare cancers.
Multiple individualized, customized treatments can be developed for many types of cancers using brachytherapy.