Comparison Between High Dose Rate Afterloading and Conventional Radium Therapy

Abstract

Although there is a certain rivalry in primary treatment of cancer of the cervix between surgical procedures and radiotherapy, intracavitary brachytherapy will continue to play an important role. As an example, in Fig. 1 is shown to what extent the different treatment modes were applied and the shifts that occurred in the Women’s Hospital of the University of Würzburg since 1950. On the other hand there is no doubt that the radium application carried out over decades will be completely replaced by remote-controlled afterloading procedures in the near future. Remote-controlled afterloading machines and the necessary applicators have now reached such a level of technical perfection that they meet all requirements even for individual computerized tomography (CT)-based treatment planning (Bauer et al. 1981; Busch et al. 1977; Frischkorn 1976; Gauwerky 1977; Henschke et al. 1963; Herbolsheimer 1989; Himmelmann and Ragnhult 1986; Ladner 1989, Rotte 1981, 1983; Vahrson 1989; Walstam 1977).