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Brachytherapy is an effective treatment option that is used worldwide to treat a wide range of cancers.

Brachytherapy is a standard of care in the treatment of cervical cancer and is widely used to treat prostate cancer.

Brachytherapy’s precision targeting of radiation to the treatment site enables high radiation doses to be delivered to a highly defined area. This precision allows clinicians to achieve a high level of dose conformity – i.e. ensuring the tumor receives an optimal radiation dose. It also reduces the risk of radiation damage to healthy tissues, organs and structures around the tumor. These features make brachytherapy a highly effective treatment modality for many types of cancers.

Brachytherapy can be used to treat cases of small or locally advanced tumors, with the aim of curing the cancer (provided the cancer has not metastasized).

In advanced disease stages, brachytherapy can be used for effective palliative treatment, providing symptom relief from pain and bleeding.

Brachytherapy is an important cancer treatment modality in cancer care.

The efficacy of brachytherapy has been demonstrated in the settings of curative, adjuvant, neo-adjuvant and palliative treatment.

Find out about the efficacy outcomes of brachytherapy for specific cancer types:

References

1. Guedea F, et al. Clin Transl Oncol 2009;11(7):470-8.
2. Litwin SM, et al. Cancer 2007;109:2239–47.
3. Viswanathan AN, et al. In Devlin PM (Ed), Brachytherapy: applications and techniques. Philadelphia, PA, LWW. 2007.
4. Hoskin PJ, Motohashi K, Bownes P, et al. Radiother Oncol 2007;84(2):114–20.
5. Pieters BR, de Back DZ, Koning CCE, Zwinderman AH. Radiother Oncol 2009;93(2):168–73.