Task force recommends new brachytherapy guidelines
A task force commissioned by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has recommended that radiation dose delivered to the prostate and nearby organs in brachytherapy procedures should be carefully analyzed using post-implant CT or MRI and uniformly documented in each patient.
The guidelines, co-authored by Yan Yu, PhD, director of medical physics in the department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, will be published in the November issue of Medical Physics.
According to the article, the widespread use of image-guided dosimetry means there is also a need for developing a consensus methodology for dose prescription and reporting for prostate brachytherapy.
The AAPM Task Group issued recommendations and guidelines on the timing, imaging techniques, dose planning criteria and dose evaluation parameters that should be followed in documenting each brachytherapy treatment.
"This is a timely update of the original AAPM Task Group 64 report, which was instrumental in defining the early standards of practice when brachytherapy became widespread in the treatment of prostate cancer," said Yu. “Sophisticated brachytherapy techniques such as real-time planning, image-guided robotic implantation and dynamic dose verification are either here or imminent. The field requires a higher level of standardization, which is exactly what Task Group 137 was commissioned to address."
The guidelines, co-authored by Yan Yu, PhD, director of medical physics in the department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, will be published in the November issue of Medical Physics.
According to the article, the widespread use of image-guided dosimetry means there is also a need for developing a consensus methodology for dose prescription and reporting for prostate brachytherapy.
The AAPM Task Group issued recommendations and guidelines on the timing, imaging techniques, dose planning criteria and dose evaluation parameters that should be followed in documenting each brachytherapy treatment.
"This is a timely update of the original AAPM Task Group 64 report, which was instrumental in defining the early standards of practice when brachytherapy became widespread in the treatment of prostate cancer," said Yu. “Sophisticated brachytherapy techniques such as real-time planning, image-guided robotic implantation and dynamic dose verification are either here or imminent. The field requires a higher level of standardization, which is exactly what Task Group 137 was commissioned to address."