Radiation protection issues in brachytherapic treatment of prostatic cancer
Bellia, M.; Bellia, S.; Ciantia, F.; Luca, N.; Serafino, L.; Occhipinti, A.; Bona, R.; Mannino, G.
Giornale Italiano di Medicina del Lavoro Ed Ergonomia 29(3 Suppl): 781-783
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 1592-7830 PMID: 18409959 Document Number: 611732
Brachytherapy is an effective radiotherapeutic treatment for localized prostatic cancer. The permanent brachytherapy is a particular kind of radiotherapy which, US guided, uses permanently implanted seeds containing radioactive sources (Pd103 or I 125). The procedure is minimally invasive and allows to obtain high percentage of success which is comparable to surgery. The possibility to confine permanent radioactive implants in a well delimitated area doesn't exclude the exposition of both the medical staff and family's members of implanted patients. The radiation exposure involves the medical physicists, the radiotherapists, the Medical Radiology Technician, the anaesthetists, the surgeons, the professional nurses but also, after the brachytherapy treatment, public and family members, comforters and cares. It's necessary to consider radiation safety aspects of brachytherapy in order to reduce the risks of exposition. At the end, several studies showed that cremation of bodies could be a possible radiation source that remains in the patient's ashes, potentially inhaled by crematorium staff or members of the public.