title: Advancements in brachytherapy.
abstract: Brachytherapy is a radiotherapy modality associated with a highly focal dose distribution. Brachytherapy treats the cancer tissue from the inside, and the radiation does not travel through healthy tissue to reach the target as with external beam radiotherapy techniques. The nature of brachytherapy makes it attractive for boosting limited size target volumes to very high doses while sparing normal tissues. Significant developments over the last decades have increased the use of 3D image guided procedures with the utilization of CT, MRI, US and PET. This has taken brachytherapy to a new level in terms of controlling dose and demonstrating excellent clinical outcome. Interests in focal, hypofractionated and adaptive treatments are increasing, and brachytherapy has significant potential to develop further in these directions with current and new treatment indications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. Electronic address: karitand@rm.dk.
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanderup
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ménard
authors.affiliation: Center of Radiotherapy, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Csaba
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Polgar
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jacob Christian
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lindegaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirisits
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pötter
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional
keywords: Brachytherapy; Focal therapy; Hypofractionation; Image guided therapy; Imaging; Radiotherapy; Technology