{"id":379,"date":"2024-05-20T11:32:55","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/?p=379"},"modified":"2024-09-17T10:53:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T05:23:56","slug":"brachytherapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/brachytherapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Brachytherapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Internal Radiation Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brachytherapy is an internal radiation therapy.<\/p>\n<p>Brachytherapy is a local treatment that radiates only a part of your body.<\/p>\n<p>Used in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/cancer-journey\/\">cancers<\/a> of:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Head and neck<\/li>\n<li>Breast, cervix<\/li>\n<li>Prostate<\/li>\n<li>Eye<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>A. Types of brachytherapy:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Intracavitary<\/p>\n<p>2. Interstitial<\/p>\n<p>3. Surface<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Intracavitary<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>An applicator containing a radioactive source is placed inside the body, near the site of the tumour or post-operative site. Example: Radiation used in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/cervical-health-awareness-month-january-2024\/\">cervical cancer<\/a> is intracavity brachytherapy after completing external beam therapy.<\/p>\n<p><strong> 2. Interstitial<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An applicator is placed in and close to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/decoding-tumor-markers-unveiling-insights-into-cancer-detection-and-diagnosis\/\">tumour<\/a> through your vagina or perineum or breast.<\/p>\n<p>Interstitial brachytherapy is used if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The tumour is big in size.<\/li>\n<li>The tumour has an irregular shape.<\/li>\n<li>The tumour involves complicated areas.<\/li>\n<li>The tumour cannot be reached using intracavitary applicators, or the applicators do not fit correctly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Interstitial brachytherapy is a very specialized type of brachytherapy, and it is customized to each patient&#8217;s requirements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Surface :<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Surface brachytherapy delivers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/ethos_linac\/\">radiotherapy<\/a> by mould which is made to fit to the external patient surface.<\/p>\n<p>Mould brachytherapy is helpful in patients with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/skin-cancer-and-its-prevention\/\">skin cancer<\/a> and early hard palate and soft palate cancers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>B. Long-term effects of brachytherapy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Early menopause<\/li>\n<li>Bladder and bowel problems<\/li>\n<li>Pain<\/li>\n<li>Nerve damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>C. How is the brachytherapy given?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The doses used in brachytherapy depend on the type of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omegahospitals.com\/blog\/tumor-markers\/\">tumour<\/a> being treated, radioisotope, dose rate (LDR or HDR), number of treatments planned and timing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dose Rate:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Brachytherapy is defined by the rate at which the dose is given.<\/p>\n<p>Four categories of brachytherapy dosage.<\/p>\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n<p><strong>High-dose-rate (HDR)<\/strong> brachytherapy given at more than 12 Gray\/hour, <strong>Pulsed dose rate (PDR<\/strong>) delivered @ 10-30 minute intervals at a rate of 0.5-1.0 Gray\/hour,<\/p>\n<p><strong>The medium dose rate (MDR<\/strong>) 2-12 Gray\/hour, and<\/p>\n<p><strong>low dose rate (LDR)<\/strong> is delivered at 0.4-2.0 Gray\/hour.<\/p>\n<p>Once the treatment is finished with LDR or HDR implants, the applicator will be removed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to expect:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Medicine for pain before the catheter or applicator is removed.<\/li>\n<li>The area where the applicator was may be tender for a few months\/days.<\/li>\n<li>There is no radiation in your body after the catheter or applicator is removed. It is safe for people to be near you, including children and pregnant women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For 1 to 2 weeks, you may need to limit strenuous physical activities.<\/p>\n<p>Ask the doctor what kinds of activities are safe and which ones you should avoid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brachytherapy is an internal radiation therapy. Brachytherapy is a local treatment that radiates only a part of your body. Used in cancers of: Head and neck Breast, cervix Prostate Eye A. Types of brachytherapy: 1. Intracavitary 2. Interstitial 3. Surface Intracavitary: An applicator containing a radioactive source is placed inside the body, near the site [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drmohanavamsyoncologist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}