A BRIEF HISTORY OF BRACHYTHERAPY:
Brachytherapy consists of four phases:
- Placement of hollow catheters or hollow carriers
- CT or MRI imaging of the site,
- computer calculations of the dose distribution called “dosimetry” and
- robotic radiation treatment delivery with a tiny radiation source.
Cancer treatment: Brachytherapy Different modes of treatment
Brachytherapy uses sealed radioactive sources that are placed directly into tumors (interstitial) or in body cavities (intracavitary). One example is the implant of some 125Iodine inside the prostate gland, which deliver the required dose during the entire period they are active. More commonly, however, a radioactive source is inserted into the body and removed when the time calculated for the delivery of a specified radiation dose has elapsed. This time period needs to be determined by an oncologist.
STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRACHYTHERAPY
1952 – The Fletcher applicator, which is the most widely used vaginal colpostate in the United States, was identified in 1953.[26]
In 1957, eye tumors were treated with stronsiyum-90 (Sr-90) eye applicators.
In the 1970s, the dosimetry rules of the Paris system
were determined by Chassagne, Pierquin, and Dutreix
in interstitial treatment. By means of these rules, radioactive Ir-192 wires
could be loaded to be manually afterloading to surgically implanted empty tubes by 2D imaging methods.
PIONEERS IN BRACHYTHERAPY:
Brachytherapy, or radioactive source implantation, dates back to
1911 when the French physician Octave Pasteau reported the
therapeutic effects on prostate cancer with the insertion of radium
catheters into the urethra. Hugh Hampton Young, already the
pioneer of the prostatectomy, experimented with revised methods
and new instruments for brachytherapy through 1917.7 During
Dr Young’s career, the radium sources were implanted using needles
without any type of image guidance, making placement and dose
planning unpredictable and bladder-wall implantation common
(Fig. 1). Ultimately, the significant side effects attributed to poor
planning caused brachytherapy to fall out of favor.
1895 – Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen discovers xrays
1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers that uranium emits rays
1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie identified Polonium and radium
1903 – the first gynecological brachytherapy was
described by Margareth A. Cleaves in New York.
1934 – Irène Curie and Frederick Joliot discovered artificial
radionuclides and opened the possibility of a new era
of brachytherapy using artificial radionuclides.
1960 – Ulrich Henschke described an afterloading technique for tumors of the uterus and cervix, which reduced exposure to staff. He inserted empty containers
in the operating room and later in the ward inserted
radioactive sources via connecting tubes.
“Felix Mick, a Swiss engineer and one of the pioneers in the use of radioisotopes for treating cancer (brachytherapy), laid the foundations for MRNI in New York in the 1970s. With the help of Dr. Ulrich Henschke, a radiation oncologist and pioneer in afterloading technology, he developed brachytherapy into an effective treatment option for numerous forms of cancer. MRNI began as a small manufacturing unit in the Bronx and is now the leading manufacturer of applicators. Felix Mick’s contribution to this form of therapy has become legendary.”
RESOURCES:
https://www.americanbrachytherapy.org/resources/for-patients/history-of-brachytherapy/
https://aboutbrachytherapy.com/about-brachytherapy/history
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-60334-1_1
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/brachytherapy
http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0378-48352004000700002
http://onkder.org/pdf/pdf_TOD_1053.pdf
https://www.clinical-genitourinary-cancer.com/article/S1558-7673(13)00206-1/pdf