title: Iodine-125 brachytherapy for brain tumours--a review.
abstract: Iodine-125 brachytherapy has been applied to brain tumours since 1979. Even though the physical and biological characteristics make these implants particularly attractive for minimal invasive treatment, the place for stereotactic brachytherapy is still poorly defined.An extensive review of the literature has been performed, especially concerning indications, results and complications. Iodine-125 seeds have been implanted in astrocytomas I-III, glioblastomas, metastases and several other tumour entities. Outcome data given in the literature are summarized. Complications are rare in carefully selected patients.All in all, for highly selected patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent primary or metastatic tumours, this method provides encouraging survival rates with relatively low complication rates and a good quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital, Marchioninistr, 15, 81377 Munich, Germany. Silke.Schwarz@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Silke B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thon
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nikolajek
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niyazi
authors.forename: Joerg-Christian
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Tonn
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belka
authors.forename: Friedrich-Wilhelm
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Kreth
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes