Focal prostate brachytherapy with 103 Pd seeds

A Monte Carlo study on the radio-sensitization effect of gold nanoparticles in brachytherapy of prostate by 103Pd seeds

103Pd seed is being used for prostate brachytherapy. Additionally, the dose enhancement effect of gold nanoparticles (GNP) has been reported in previous studies. The aim of this study was to characterize the dosimetric effect of gold nanoparticles in brachytherapy with a 103Pd source. Two brachytherapy seeds including 103 Pd source was simulated using MCNPX Monte Carlo code. The seeds’ models were validated by comparing the MC with reported results. Then, GNPs (10 nm in diameter) with a concentration of 7mg Au/g were simulated uniformly inside the prostate of a humanoid computational phantom. Additionally, the dose enhancement factor (DEF) of nanoparticles was calculated for both modeled brachytherapy seeds. A good agreement was found between the MC calculated and the reported dosimetric parameters. For both seeds, an average DEF of 23% was obtained in tumor volume for prostate brachytherapy. The application of GNPs in conjunction with 103Pd seed in brachytherapy can enhance the delivered dose to the tumor and consequently leads to better treatment outcome.

Preparation and in vitro assessment of wet-spun gemcitabine-loaded polymeric fibers: Towards localized drug delivery for the treatment of pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

There has been minimal improvement in the prognosis of pancreatic cancer cases in the past 3 decades highlighting the crucial need for more effective therapeutic approaches. A drug delivery system capable of locally delivering high concentrations of chemotherapeutics directly at the site of the tumor is clearly required. The aim of this study was to fabricate and characterize the biophysical properties of gemcitabine-eluting wet-spun polymeric fibers for localized drug delivery applications.

METHODS/RESULTS

Fibers spun from alginate or chitosan solutions with or without the anticancer drug gemcitabine had a uniform surface area, were internally homogeneous and ranged from 50-120 μm in diameter. Drug encapsulation ranged from 13-52%, depending on the type and concentration of polymer used. Gemcitabine displayed first-order release kinetics where 64-82% of the loaded drug was rapidly released within the first 10 h followed by a sustained release over the next 134 h. A time dependent inhibition of ex vivo tumor spheroid growth and cell viability was observed after incubation with gemcitabine-loaded fibers but not control fibers.

CONCLUSION

With further development these studies could lead to the manufacture of a safe and effective delivery system designed to combat non-resectable pancreatic cancer for which currently there is minimal chance of cure.

The role of medical physics in prostate cancer radiation therapy

Medical physics, both as a scientific discipline and clinical service, hugely contributed and still contributes to the advances in the radiotherapy of prostate cancer. The traditional translational role in developing and safely implementing new technology and methods for better optimizing, delivering and monitoring the treatment is rapidly expanding to include new fields such as quantitative morphological and functional imaging and the possibility of individually predicting outcome and toxicity. The pivotal position of medical physicists in treatment personalization probably represents the main challenge of current and next years and needs a gradual change of vision and training, without losing the traditional and fundamental role of physicists to guarantee a high quality of the treatment. The current focus issue is intended to cover traditional and new fields of investigation in prostate cancer radiation therapy with the aim to provide up-to-date reference material to medical physicists daily working to cure prostate cancer patients. The papers presented in this focus issue touch upon present and upcoming challenges that need to be met in order to further advance prostate cancer radiation therapy. We suggest that there is a smart future for medical physicists willing to perform research and innovate, while they continue to provide high-quality clinical service. However, physicists are increasingly expected to actively integrate their implicitly translational, flexible and high-level skills within multi-disciplinary teams including many clinical figures (first of all radiation oncologists) as well as scientists from other disciplines.