Physical and Dosimetric Aspects of the Iridium-Knife

Abstract

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The three-dimensional iridium-192 (192Ir) high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy manifests itself as a high-precision, hypofractionated, dose-escalating, minimally invasive method in the armamentarium of contemporary radiation oncology clinical applications. In this study, the physical aspects of the 192Ir radionuclide are presented. Its dosimetric application in HDR brachytherapy for different anatomical sites (prostate, gynecological malignancies, liver, and intrathoracic tumors) as well as the corresponding dosimetric comparison with the stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) techniques based on a representative selection of dosimetric publications is reviewed and illustrated.

Keywords

• iridium knife
• brachytherapy
• dosimetry
• high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy
• stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR)
• stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)