Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Body sites in which brachytherapy can be used to treat cancer. Brachytherapy is commonly used to treat cancers of the cervix, prostate, breast, and skin. [1]Brachytherapy can also be used in the treatment of tumours of the brain, eye, head and neck region (lip, floor of mouth, tongue, nasopharynx and oropharynx), [10] respiratory tract (trachea and bronchi), digestive tract (oesophagus, gall ...
Iodine-125 (125 I) is a radioisotope of iodine which has uses in biological assays, nuclear medicine imaging and in radiation therapy as brachytherapy to treat a number of conditions, including prostate cancer, uveal melanomas, and brain tumors. It is the second longest-lived radioisotope of iodine, after iodine-129.
Contrast CT of a patient with brain metastases from breast cancer, before (left) and after (right) injection of iodinated contrast.. Iodinated contrast is a form of water-soluble, intravenous radiocontrast agent containing iodine, which enhances the visibility of vascular structures and organs during radiographic procedures.
IORT is typically a component in the multidisciplinary treatment of locally advanced and recurrent cancer, in combination with external beam radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy. As a growing trend in recent years, IORT can also be used in earlier stage cancers such as prostate and breast cancer.
Therefore, it is recommended in most cases of breast conserving surgeries and less frequently after mastectomy. Indications for radiation treatment are constantly evolving. Patients treated in Europe have been more likely in the past to be recommended adjuvant radiation after breast cancer surgery as compared to patients in North America.
Iodine-125 is also commonly used by radiation oncologists in low dose rate brachytherapy in the treatment of cancer at sites other than the thyroid, especially in prostate cancer. When 125 I is used therapeutically, it is encapsulated in titanium seeds and implanted in the area of the tumor, where it remains. The low energy of the gamma ...
The beta radiation released damages both normal thyroid tissue and any thyroid cancer that behaves like normal thyroid in taking up iodine, so providing the therapeutic effect, whilst most of the gamma radiation escapes the patient's body. [7] Most of the iodine not taken up by thyroid tissue is excreted through the kidneys into the urine.
It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor (for example, early stages of breast cancer). Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of oncology concerned ...