Development of a spherical (125)i-brachytherapy seed for its application in the treatment of eye and prostate cancer

Combination of Permanent Interstitial 125I-Seed Brachytherapy and Surgery for the Treatment of Large Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The treatment methods available for large primary hepatocellular carcinomas (diameter >5 cm) are inadequate. Here, we report the successful management of 80 cases of large hepatocellular carcinoma, using a combination of custom-designed permanent interstitial iodine-125 seed brachytherapy and palliative surgery. Patients were enrolled in the study between 2011 and 2014. All patients underwent surgical treatment along with permanent interstitial iodine-125 seed brachytherapy; for the latter, patients received minimum doses covering 90% of the target (D90 s) of iodine-125 seeds ranging from 100 to 160 Gy (median: 110 Gy). All patients received 6 cycles of chemotherapy and were followed up at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. The clinical symptom remission rate was 95.3% (61 of 64). Alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels decreased to normal in 80% (50 of 60) and 75% of the patients (45 of 60), respectively. The posttreatment alpha-fetoprotein levels decreased by 50% in 80% of the patients (40 of 50). The effective therapy rates were 80% (76 of 95) for 95 tumor nodules (diameters 5-10 cm) and 78.6% (33 of 42) for 42 tumor nodules (diameters >10 cm). The 3-year disease-free survival rate was 66.6%. Palliative surgery plus permanent interstitial iodine-125 seed brachytherapy appears to be a reasonable therapeutic alternative for large hepatocellular carcinoma.

Development of a 125I source for its application in bone densitometry

This paper describes a method for the preparation of (125)I sources for their use in bone densitometer. The process consists of preparation of silver pellets of size ∼2.5 mm (ϕ) × 0.6 mm (l) by 'Cold die compaction technique', palladium coating of the silver pellets, adsorption of (125)I on the palladium coated silver pellets and encapsulation source matrix in a titanium capsule [ 3 mm (ϕ) × 10 mm(l)] using Nd:YAG laser. The texture and morphology of the source matrix were examined by SEM and EDS analyses. Encapsulated sources containing (125)I activity up to ∼1.85 GBq (50 mCi) were prepared. Quality control tests that were necessary before application were performed and gave satisfactory results.