Prostate brachytherapy: Low dose rate

Abstract

The concept of prostate brachytherapy began in the early 1900s with Alexander Bell's suggestion that tiny fragments of radium could be sealed in a glass tube, inserted into a cancer and act on the disease material. Radium needles were used for prostate cancer in 1915 by both Dr Benjamin Barringer (after whom the Barringer Award is named) and Hugh Hampton Young (the pioneer in radical prostatectomy). Dr Young performed over 500 implants in this fashion from 1915 to 1927 with modest results [1].