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Status of head and neck brachytherapy in Spain in 2022

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Abstract

Purpose

Brachytherapy (BT) has been used for many years for disease control in tumours of the head and neck area (H&N). It is currently performed with high dose rate (HDR) or pulsed dose rate (PDR), but its use has been reduced due to the implementation of new non-invasive external beam radiotherapy techniques such as intensity modulation (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and the improvement of surgical techniques.

Methods

The Spanish Brachytherapy Group (GEB) has carried out a survey to find out the number of centres in Spain that continue to use BT in H&N and its indications and expectations for the future.

Results

The results were presented at the XX GEB Consensus Meeting held on October 21, 2022, in Valencia (Spain) and it was confirmed that, although there are fewer and fewer centres that use BT in H&N, there are still units with extensive experience in this technique that should be positioned as referral centres.

Conclusion

It is necessary to carry out continuous work with other specialities involved, such as H&N surgeons, and other radiation oncologists, to improve the training of residents, both oncologists and medical physicists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Oncology Department, Fundacion Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia (I.V.O.), C/Profesor Beltran Baguena 8, 46009, Valencia, Spain

    Jose Luis Guinot & Miguel Angel Santos

  2. Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Clinico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Patricia Diezhandino & Jesus Maria de Frutos

  3. Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Naiara Fuentemilla & Elena Villafranca

  4. Department of Medical Physics, Fundacion Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia (I.V.O.), Valencia, Spain

    Victor Gonzalez-Perez

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Institut Català d’Oncologia, Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina Gutierrez

  6. Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Clínic Universitari, Barcelona, Spain

    Antonio Herreros & Angels Rovirosa

  7. Department of Oncology, Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, CUN, Pamplona, Spain

    Rafael Martinez-Monge

  8. Radiation Oncology Department, CIBIR - Complejo Hospitalario San Pedro La Rioja, Logroño, Spain

    Susana Perez-Echagüen

  9. Department of Medical Physics, Institut Català d’Oncologia, Barcelona, Spain

    Francisco Pino

  10. Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe, Valencia, Spain

    Susana Roldán

  11. Medical Physics Department, CIBIR - Complejo Hospitalario San Pedro La Rioja, Logroño, Spain

    Camilo Jose Sanz-Freire

Authors
  1. Jose Luis Guinot
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  2. Patricia Diezhandino
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  3. Jesus Maria de Frutos
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  4. Naiara Fuentemilla
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  6. Cristina Gutierrez
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  7. Antonio Herreros
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  8. Rafael Martinez-Monge
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  9. Susana Perez-Echagüen
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  10. Francisco Pino
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  11. Susana Roldán
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  12. Angels Rovirosa
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  13. Miguel Angel Santos
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  14. Camilo Jose Sanz-Freire
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  15. Elena Villafranca
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Luis Guinot.

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Conflict of interest

All coauthors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients receiving brachytherapy in each hospital.

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Guinot, J.L., Diezhandino, P., de Frutos, J.M. et al. Status of head and neck brachytherapy in Spain in 2022. Clin Transl Oncol 26, 456–460 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-023-03265-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-023-03265-8

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