Physics and basic parameters of brachytherapy

Abstract

Brachytherapy (short-distance therapy) is the therapeutic process whereby radioactive sources are placed into very close proximity to target tissue. Radioactive materials were so used beginning shortly after the discovery of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898. For the purposes of brachytherapy, radioactive materials are those that emit 'rays' that can cause ionization (and hence DNA damage and the destruction of target cells). The potentially useful rays include beta, gamma, and other possibilities such as neutrons. Beta rays, properly beta particles, are simply high energy electrons. Gamma rays are high energy photons (part of the electromagnetic spectrum like visible light, but with much higher energy). These particles are produced during the radioactive decay of certain isotopes. The physics of those events and the parameters that apply to the therapeutic use of the isotopes are the primary topics of this report.