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Radiobiological Aspects of Brachytherapy in the Era of 3-Dimensional Imaging

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Gynecologic Radiation Therapy

Abstract

Radiobiological principles are increasingly well understood for external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for a variety of tumor histologies and the associated normal tissue effects. Application of this knowledge in the daily use of brachytherapy is much more challenging, although equally important. Brachytherapy was initially developed empirically with dose being determined predominantly by clinical effect. In the modern era, radiobiological modeling is used to predict the biological effect of varying dose prescriptions. The challenges involved in applying radiobiological principles within brachytherapy have been emphasized by the move from low dose rate (LDR) treatment to fractionated high dose rate (HDR) and pulsed brachytherapy (PB) treatment. This chapter examines basic radiobiological principles and their application to 3D conformal gynecologic brachytherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consultant Clinical Oncologist, St Luke’s Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Egerton Rd, Guildford, GU2 7XX, England

    Alexandra J. Stewart

  2. Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, K4/316 Clinical Science Center, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53792, USA

    Søren M. Bentzen

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Correspondence to Alexandra J. Stewart .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dept. Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Binney St. 44, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Akila N. Viswanathan

  2. , Division Medical Radiation Physics, AKH Wien-MUW, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Wien, 1090, Austria

    Christian Kirisits

  3. Dept. Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Watertown Plank Road 8701, Milwaukee, 53226, Wisconsin, USA

    Beth E. Erickson

  4. Klinik Strahlentherapie und, Strahlenbiologie, Universitätsklinikum Wien, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Wien, 1090, Austria

    Richard Pötter

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Stewart, A.J., Bentzen, S.M. (2011). Radiobiological Aspects of Brachytherapy in the Era of 3-Dimensional Imaging. In: Viswanathan, A., Kirisits, C., Erickson, B., Pötter, R. (eds) Gynecologic Radiation Therapy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68958-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68958-4_11

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