Brachytherapy (BT) has long been used for successful treatment of various tumour entities, including prostate, breast and gynaecological cancer. However, particularly due to advances in modern external beam techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volume modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), there are concerns about its future. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this article aims to summarize the role of BT in cancer treatment and highlight its particular dosimetric advantages. The authors conclude that image-guided BT supported by inverse dose planning will successfully compete with high-tech EBRT in the future and continue to serve as a valuable modality for cancer treatment.

Purpose: To describe the results of treating tongue cancer patients with single postoperative interstitial, high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT) after resection.Methods: Between January 1998 and April 2019, 45 patients with squamous cell histology, stage T1–2N0–1M0 tongue tumours were treated by surgery followed by a single HDR BT in case of negative prognostic factors (close or positive surgical margin, lymphovascular and/or perineural invasion). The average dose was 29 Gy (range: 10–45 Gy) and rigid metal needles were used in 11 (24%) and flexible plastic catheters in 34 cases (76%). Survival parameters, toxicities and the prognostic factors influencing survival were analysed.Results: During a mean follow-up of 103 months (range: 16–260 months) for surviving patients, the 10-year local and regional control (LC, RC), overall survival (OS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) probabilities were 85, 73, 34 and 63%, respectively. The incidence of local grade 1, 2 and 3 mucositis was 23, 73 and 4%, respectively. As a serious (grade 4), late side effect, soft tissue necrosis developed in 3 cases (7%). In a univariate analysis, there was a significant correlation between lymphovascular invasion and RC (p = 0.0118) as well as cervical recurrence and DSS (p < 0.0001).Conclusion: Sole postoperative HDR brachytherapy can be an effective method in case of negative prognostic factors in the treatment of early, resectable tongue tumours. Comparing the results of patients treated with postoperative BT to those who were managed with surgery or BT alone known from the literature, a slightly more favourable LC can be achieved with the combination therapy, demonstrating the potential compensating effect of BT on adverse prognostic factors, while the developing severe, grade 4 toxicity rate remains low.

The aim of this study was to reveal the volumetric changes in tumor necrosis, reactive zone, and edema referred to as the “triple ring” appearing after low-dose-rate iodine-125 (I-125) interstitial irradiation of 20 inoperable low-grade gliomas. To enable prediction of these volumetric changes, we provide mathematical expressions that describe the dynamics of the triple ring. Volumes of the three regions on image-fused control CT/MR images were measured for a 24-month period. The delivered dose on the tumor surface was 50-60 Gy. Dose planning and image fusion were performed with Brain-Lab Target 1.19 software; mathematical and statistical computations were carried out with Matlab numeric computation and visualization software. To determine the volumes, control images with the triple rings were fused with the planning images. Relative volumes normalized with respect to the volume of reference dose were calculated and plotted in the time domain. First, the mean values of volumes were determined from the patients' measured data; then, polynomials were fitted to the mean values using the polynomial curve-fitting method. The accuracy of our results was verified by correlating the predicted data with the measured ones. The polynomial prediction approach proposed here reveals the dynamics of the triple ring. These polynomials will assist with (1) designing the best treatment, (2) following the patient's condition, and (3) planning reirradiation if necessary.

Cytogenetic analysis of blood lymphocytes can be used as a biomarker of absorbed radiation dose. The frequency of chromosomal aberrations (CA) correlates with subsequent cancer incidence. Healthy medical employees in Hungary - 301 working in an ionizing radiation work area and 732 controls - were studied from 1997 to 2022. Frequencies of chromatid- and chromosome-type aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes were significantly higher in the ionizing radiation group. Smoking also affected the frequency of aberrations, which was highest among smokers in the radiation group. Staff working with ionizing radiation were divided into four groups: CT, radiation therapy, diagnostic X-ray, and nuclear medicine. Total aberrations and aberrant cells were significantly higher in the nuclear medicine group than in the CT group. Tumor cases were not more frequent among the ionizing radiation group than among the control group.