By: Julia Aidan
Submitted: 2012-01-19 19:20:27 | Word Count: 567
High-Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a ground-breaking type of radiation treatment for the healing of prostate cancer. As the prostate gland is located close to the bladder and rectum, it is important for radiation treatment to be precisely focused on the prostate to stay away from serious side effects. HDR brachytherapy offers a fast, precise way to give radiation treatment for some prostate cancer patients. The radiation is deposited only inside the tumor, delivering a maximum dose, while minimizing exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue.
Some brachytherapy (HDR) techniques use permanent seeds implanted in the prostate to deliver radiation therapy. These seeds remain in the prostate indefinitely, and can cause problems because these seeds move both during and between treatments.
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HDR brachytherapy, on the other hand, uses laser-thin, hollow catheters to deliver a precise, three-dimensional dose of radiation. The catheters are temporarily inserted in and around the prostate using image-guidance (usually ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI), before each treatment.
First, the CTCA radiation team checks the position of the catheters with millimeter precision. Next, a series of radioactive pellets are inserted into each catheter. Computer guidance controls (1) how far the pellet goes into the catheter to precisely target the location of tumors, and (2) how long the pellet stays in the catheter to release its radiation dose.
With a few well-placed catheters, HDR brachytherapy can provide a very precise treatment for prostate cancer that takes only a few minutes. After a series of treatments, the catheters are removed. There are no radioactive seeds left in the body, as is the case with other types of brachytherapy.
Each HDR brachytherapy treatment takes about 15-20 minutes. Because there is no incision and no surgical wound to heal, recovery from the procedure is usually very quick.
MedWOW, the multilingual, global medical equipment marketplace, features a nice assortment of Brachytherapy HDR units. International manufacturers and vendors currently represented on the MEDWOW marketplace include: Varian and Nucletron.
MedWOW features a multilingual interface (10 languages) for buyers who feel more comfortable making major medical equipment purchases, such as Brachytherapy HDR purchasing decisions in their native language. Additionally, among many other services, you can choose to let the MedWOW team of trained medical experts do the job for you. They provide comprehensive solutions for purchasing just what you require, including: gathering international quotes, filtering out the most attractive offers, negotiating prices - and much more! If you aren't sure of how much you should be paying, there is a convenient market value calculator which gives you a good idea of the high, low and average prices of the Brachytherapy HDR system you would like to buy.
Author Resource:-MedWOW features a multilingual interface (10 languages) for buyers who feel more comfortable making major medical equipment purchases, such as Brachytherapy HDR purchasing decisions in their native language. Additionally, among many other services, you can choose to let the MedWOW team of trained medical experts do the job for you. They provide comprehensive solutions for purchasing just what you require, including: gathering international quotes, filtering out the most attractive offers, negotiating prices - and much more! If you aren’t sure of how much you should be paying, there is a convenient market value calculator which gives you a good idea of the high, low and average prices of the Brachytherapy HDR system you would like to buy.
