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Home > Testing & Treatment > Radiation Therapy > Brachytherapy
MammoSite targeted radiation therapy works from inside the breast, directly targeting the area where cancer is most likely to recur. A radiation seed is delivered via a MammoSite balloon catheter as directed by the treatment plan. After each treatment, the seed is removed. No radiation remains in the breast in between treatments. MammoSite spares healthy tissue and organs from the effects of radiation and allows treatment to be completed in just 5 days instead of 5-7 weeks. Learn more from MammoSite patient Pauline Mason in the video below or read her survivor story.
High-dose rate brachytherapy is used with certain cancers to avoid damaging healthy tissue, and may kill more cancer cells in fewer treatments. High-Dose Rate (HDR) treatments are where a radioactive source is placed through a catheter into the tumor or the cavity where the tumor was removed. The number of treatments can be drastically reduced for those patients. The patients that could benefit from this type of treatment are breast (Mammosite), gynecological and lung (Endobronchial Brachytherapy).
Some men with prostate cancer may be candidates for prostate brachytherapy. This is a procedure performed in the operating room by a urologist and a radiation oncologist where 70 to 100 radioactive seeds are permanently implanted into the prostate to destroy cancer tissue.