Brachytherapy for Treatment of Mesothelioma

Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy and is an advanced form of
treatment for mesothelioma. It has been used for over a century for
the treatment of mesothelioma.

Radiotherapy is used to treat mesothelioma by ionizing radiation, thus
killing cancer cells. Radiotherapy can be performed internally or
externally. When radiotherapy is performed externally the radiation is
put into the body from an object outside the body, which is usually
called a linear accelerator.

When radiotherapy is performed internally radiation is put inside the
body. Internal radiotherapy can also be called brachytherapy. "Brachy"
comes from the Greek word for "short range." The radiation is put into
the body at short range, thus, brachytherapy. Some other names for
internal radiotherapy are sealed source radiotherapy, seed
implantation radiotherapy or endocurietherapy.

The radiation is placed either inside the cancer source or very close
to it. The radiation that is placed inside emits radiation killing the
cancerous cells but can only kill up to a one inch diameter, so the
radiation must be placed close to the cancerous site.

There are two different types of brachytherapy:

- temporary brachytherapy - permanent brachytherapy

Temporary brachytherapy consists of placing the radioactive seeds
(radiation) inside the body and then taking them out after a certain
amount of time.

Permanent brachytherapy consists of placing the radioactive seeds
inside the body and leaving them. The radioactive seeds actually stop
emitting radiation after a certain amount of time but lay in the body
causing no problems.

There are actually teams of people who administer the brachytherapy.
Among this team are a radiation oncologist, a radiation physicist, a
radiation therapist, and the person who manually does the procedure.

The radiation oncologist decides the area to be treated and the
overall treatment plan, the radiation physicist decides the best
equipment to be used to infuse the radiation, the dosimetrist decides
the dosage to be given and helps in distributing the dose and the
radiation therapist operates the equipment that administers the
radiation.

Brachytherapy is considered to be a safer method of treatment for
mesothelioma than other treatments for the cancer, but there are side
effects of this procedure. Right after the procedure there is soreness
at the site of the radiation there may also be swelling in the same
area. Short-term side effects are soreness and bleeding at the site
but generally only last a few days.