#31 Brachytherapy Physics, Second Edition, eBook

During the years since the first edition of the AAPM Brachytherapy Physics book was published, both high dose rate and low dose rate brachytherapy has flourished. This modality - which at that time was used in limited forms for a few disease sites and rarely offered outside academic institutions - is now applied at most radiation oncology centers to a substantial number of patients for a multitude of disease sites and with a broad spectrum of approaches. Major changes include improved imaging and targeting accuracy and the revision of the dosimetric formalism of AAPM Task Group 43.This book is organized into the following sections:Fundamentals of sources and delivery systems, and the radiobiological rationale for brachytherapy. Source specification parameters, calculation formalisms, target localization techniques, and computer algorithms used in modern brachytherapy treatment planning.Interstitial implant methods: classical system; checking dosimetry of, and communicating about, implants; implant design, optimization, and quality evaluation and reporting. In-depth reviews of clinical applications of interstitial implants of the prostate, the head and neck and the breast. Gynecological brachytherapy.Less conventional forms of brachytherapy, e.g., using miniature x-ray tubes, hyperthermia and radioactive microspheres