HDR brachytherapy stands for high dose rate brachytherapy and is use in the treatment of prostate cancer. There is only one radioactive seed made of iridium-194 used, which is sometimes referred to as an iridium wire. Patients stay in the hospital for 24-36 hours with catheters inserted through the perineum into the prostate gland. The iridium wire is inserted into and removed from these catheters one at a time to deliver very power doses to radiation to the prostate gland in hopes of killing prostate cancer.
|
