Study and methodologies for fixing epoxy resin in radioactive sources used for brachytherapy

• Autor(a) principal: RODRIGUES, BRUNA T.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: ROSTELATO, MARIA E.C.M., SOUZA, CARLA D., TOZETTI, CINTIA A., ZEITUNI, CARLOS A., NOGUEIRA, BEATRIZ R., SILVA, JOSE T., K. JUNIOR, DIB, FERNANDES, VAGNER, SOUZA, RAQUEL V., ABREU, RODRIGO T., INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do IPEN
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/28289
• topic: brachytherapy; epoxides; iodine 125; neoplasms; prostate; radiation sources; resins

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of new cancer cases worldwide will reach 15 million by 2020. The disease is already the second leading cause of death worldwide, being behind only cardiovascular disease. It is unquestionable that it is a public health problem, especially among developing countries. Prostate cancer is the most common among men, approximately 28.6%. The choice of type of treatment for prostate cancer should consider several factors such as: tumor size and extent, apparent aggressiveness (pathological characteristics), age, health. Among the methods applied, brachytherapy has been used in the initial and intermediate stages of the disease. Brachytherapy is a safe and effective treatment for localized prostate cancer. Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy in which radioactive seeds are placed in contact with or within the organ being treated. This technique allows a large dose of radiation to be released only on the target tumor that protects healthy surrounding tissues. Sources may have different shapes and sizes, but the one used for prostate cancer is usually 4.5 mm in length and 0.8 mm in diameter. About 80 to 120 seeds can be used per patient. Iodine-125 is the radioisotope most used in brachytherapy of the prostate, it emits 35,49keV X-rays in 100% of the decays, with average energy of 29 keV. The treatment of prostate cancer with permanent implantation of iodine-125 seeds has grown dramatically in the world in recent years. Most patients can return to normal life within three days with little or no pain.