Status of head and neck brachytherapy in Spain in 2022.

Purpose: Brachytherapy (BT) has been used for many years for disease control in tumours of the head and neck area (H&N). It is currently performed with high dose rate (HDR) or pulsed dose rate (PDR), but its use has been reduced due to the implementation of new non-invasive external beam radiotherapy techniques such as intensity modulation (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and the improvement of surgical techniques.

Methods: The Spanish Brachytherapy Group (GEB) has carried out a survey to find out the number of centres in Spain that continue to use BT in H&N and its indications and expectations for the future.

Consensus statement from the Spanish Brachytherapy Group (GEB) on accelerated partial breast irradiation using multicatheter interstitial brachytherapy.

Aim: To establish consensus guidelines for a safe clinical practice of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) interstitial multicatheter brachytherapy (BT).

Background: APBI with interstitial multicatheter BT has proved to be effective in the treatment of early stage breast cancer. This paradigm shift in the approach to early breast cancer conservative treatment, along with the existing controversies on the clinical practice of APBI, prompted the Spanish Brachytherapy Group (GEB) of the Spanish Societies of Radiation Oncology (SEOR) and Medical Physics (SEFM) to address BT APBI in a consensus meeting.