A prospective randomized comparison of stranded vs. loose 125I seeds for prostate brachytherapy.

Purpose: To compare seed loss and dosimetric parameters between stranded and loose 125I seeds (LS) for prostate brachytherapy.

Methods And Materials: Sixty-four patients with 1997 American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) clinical stage T1c or T2a prostate carcinoma were prospectively randomized to brachytherapy (144Gy) with RAPID Strand 125I seeds (RS) vs. LS (Oncura, Plymouth Meeting, PA) The treatment plan for each patient was devised before randomization, and was not modified based on the randomization.

Intraoperative fluoroscopic dose assessment in prostate brachytherapy patients.

Purpose: To evaluate a fluoroscopy-based intraoperative dosimetry system to guide placement of additional sources to underdosed areas, and perform computed tomography (CT) verification.

Methods And Materials: Twenty-six patients with prostate carcinoma treated with either I-125 or Pd-103 brachytherapy at the Puget Sound VA using intraoperative postimplant dosimetry were analyzed. Implants were performed by standard techniques.

Isodose patterns in patients with inadequate prostate brachytherapy coverage.

Purpose: The development of a practical, real-time dosimetry system should result in improved implant dose distributions and higher prostate cancer control rates. Our purpose here is to demonstrate that intraoperative isodose reconstruction in relation to the seed distribution, even without accurate registration with the prostatic volume, can likely identify an inadequate implant intraoperatively and guide corrective seed placement.

Methods And Materials: A total of 102 Pd-103 implants performed by standard techniques, using a modified peripheral loading pattern, were studied.

Ultrasonography and fluoroscopic fusion for prostate brachytherapy dosimetry.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of performing postimplant and intraoperative dosimetry for prostate brachytherapy by fusing transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and fluoroscopic data.

Methods And Materials: Registration of ultrasound (prostate boundary) and fluoroscopic (seed) data requires spatial markers that are detectable by both imaging modalities. In this study, the needle tips were considered as such fiducials.