Preparation of I brachytherapy seeds by iodinating carbon bars with a silver coating.

A method for preparing I brachytherapy seeds is presented. Carbon bars were used as the substrates, on which a silver coating was deposited by electroless plating, and then, I was adsorbed by iodinating the silver coating so as to prepare source cores. The radioactive cores were sealed individually in the titanium capsule to fabricate the I brachytherapy seeds. Quality control checking of the encapsulated I seeds for dimension, leakage and surface contamination were performed. And the I seeds using carbon bar as the core substrate underwent computed tomography (CT) scan and X-ray imaging to determine the visualization. This paper provides valuable experiences and data for the preparation of I brachytherapy seeds.