What is brachytherapy?

Low dose-rate brachytherapy (seed implantation) is a kind of targeted internal radiotherapy.

Seeds are tiny capsules, the size of a grain of rice, containing the radiation are positioned directly into the prostate gland. It is not major surgery and usually you will only spend 1 day in hospital.

Generally it has a low complication rate, and most men return to their usual pre-treatment activities within a couple of days.

 

Prostate brachytherapy is a kind of radiotherapy. It is sometimes referred to as low dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy, seed implantation or pinhole surgery.

It is different from External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT), which uses x-rays beamed into the tumor site from outside the body. In EBRT the x-rays have to pass through other body tissues before reaching the tumor site, which means that the healthy parts of the body around the tumor may also be affected. (see figure 2- above)

LDR brachytherapy is different to external beam radiotherapy because it involves the insertion of tiny radioactive capsules or seeds into the prostate gland itself. Each seed is the size of a grain of rice, and between 80-120 seeds will be used, depending on the size of the prostate and the tumor location. Figure 3 (above) shows the size of the seeds and needles used. Figure 4 (below) shows an illustration of how the needles are guided using a grid for precision and accuracy.

patient information about brachytherapy treatments

LDR brachytherapy is said to be more ‘targeted’ than conventional (external) beam radiotherapy. Figure 5 (above) shows an illustration of the seeds in position.

Unlike other forms of radiotherapy, LDR brachytherapy is a much faster and more convenient procedure. It is often a same day procedure carried out in the radiotherapy department of the hospital under general anesthetic, but occasionally may involve an overnight stay. Patients can usually return to levels of pre-treatment activities within a couple of days.

 

> How does LDR Brachytherapy compare with other treatments for localized prostate cancer?