Modern Brachytherapy Techniques - Real-Time High Dose Rate Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer

The "real time" technique of high dose rate brachytherapy of the prostate gland is described from the point of view of the medical physicist, as an illustration of modern radiotherapy techniques currently applied at the Centre of Oncology in Krakow. This technique, based on ultrasound imaging and on-line calculations of dose distribution around catheters inserted into the prostate volume in which a radioactive Ir-192 source is moved with the aid of an afterloading apparatus, is performed in operating-room conditions in close cooperation with the physician within stringent time limits.