Medical isotope developer IsoRay is highlighting research that suggests the isotope cesium-131 is beneficial for permanent interstitial brachytherapy in gynecologic/pelvic cancers.
A study published online August 26 in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics found that cesium-131 can deliver effective radiation doses while also limiting radiation dose to uninvolved adjacent tissues, due to its lower mean energy and lower toxicity profile compared with other isotopes.
For the research, a team led by Dr. Jonathan Feddock of the University of Kentucky in Lexington studied 42 patients treated with 52 cesium-131 implants. Median follow-up was 16 months.
Feddock's group found that women treated with permanent interstitial brachytherapy for small recurrences avoided radical surgery; the treatment also controlled local disease over a reasonably long period of time, according to the researchers. Even when permanent interstitial brachytherapy failed, it provided patients with a treatment option that improved their quality of life until the cancer recurred, the group wrote.
