ABOUT BRACHYTHERAPY SCIENTIFICALLY

Today, brachytherapy is an important element of oncological treatment. It involves irradiating disease lesions by placing a radiation source in the tumor or its vicinity. The most important advantage of brachytherapy is its precision - by placing the radioactive source directly in the tumor area (or even inside it), it is possible to administer a very high dose that hits the tumor lesion, while reducing the exposure of healthy organs to radiation, because the radiation dose decreases quickly with with distance from the source.

Brachytherapy is used, among others, in the treatment of cancers of the cervix and endometrium, breast, lung, prostate, esophagus, head and neck. It is often used in the so-called combined treatment with surgery, teleradiotherapy or chemotherapy. Brachytherapy has been successfully performed at the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center since 2014.

Doctors from the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center are happy to share their knowledge. Dr. Marcin Hetnał and Dr. Krzysztof Bereza took part in the 17th Conference of the Polish Brachytherapy Society, which took place on September 19-XNUMX in Katowice.

Marcin Hetnał, medical director of the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center, is also a member of the board of the Polish Brachytherapy Society. During the session devoted to breast cancer, he delivered a lecture on the current state of knowledge about APBI. This is a technique of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI), which significantly shortens traditional therapy lasting 4-5 weeks to 1-2 weeks. It not only saves time, but also reduces many complications. Research confirms the effectiveness of APBI in specific groups of patients. However, the method is not yet widely used in our country.

Krzysztof Bereza discussed the importance of brachytherapy in the treatment of vulvar cancer.