Abstract
In brachytherapy, small sources that contain radioactive material within a capsule are used. The current methods of brachytherapy can be divided into low-dose-rate (LDR) and high-dose-rate (HDR) techniques [1, 2], which present different hazard control problems. LDR techniques have been practiced since the discovery of radium; HDR techniques have become possible in modern times because of the development and availability of artificially produced radioactive sources of very high specific activities. Whereas LDR brachytherapy is performed with sources of low activity, of the order of a few gigabecquerel, sources having activities of 100 GBq may be employed for HDR brachytherapy. Such high-activity sources used in HDR brachytherapy should be handled only with a remote afterloading device installed in a room specially planned to have sufficient space, distance from the source to personnel, and shielding. The HDR precautions are not unlike those adopted for teletherapy treatments, with remote-control devices, shielding, safety interlocks, and radiation alarms. For an understanding of the safety and quality control problems encountered in HDR remote-loading brachytherapy, the reader is referred to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Report 41 [3] and other publications [4, 5] cited at the end of this chapter. Our discussion here mainly addresses the conventional LDR techniques, which are the subject of Report No. 40 from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) [6].
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Jayaraman, S., Lanzl, L.H. (2004). Radiation Safety in Brachytherapy. In: Clinical Radiotherapy Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18549-6_20
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