BrachyView: A multipurpose probe for in-body radiation imaging and dosimetry

UOW researchers and their international collaborators who treat cancer using a multipurpose probe for in-body radiation imaging have received a three-year, $523,500 Development Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Lead by Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld, the Director of the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, the BrachyView: A multipurpose probe for in-body radiation imaging and dosimetry project aims to optimise the delivery of brachytheraphy, a type of radiotherapy for treating cancer that places radioactive sources in or adjacent to target tissues.

There are two main types of brachytherapy: permanent seed implants, where radioactive seeds are left in tissue - commonly used in the treatment of prostate cancer; and temporary seed loadings, where sources are placed in catheters, needles, or other appliances close to the target tissue for a brief period of time, and then removed.

The goal for both types is the same — to conform the radiation dose to the size and shape of the target and limit side effects by significantly reducing damage to healthy tissue and vital organs.

In collaboration with international and Australian researchers and clinicians, BrachyView is being developed to assist physicians to provide efficient and optimised permanent seed implants.

The multipurpose instrument will achieve this by allowing intra-operative dynamic planning, image guided treatment, post-implant verification and direct rectal dosimetry. Dosimetry is the measurement of the amount of radiation absorbed by the tissue targeted, and surrounding tissue.

“BrachyView represents a major advance in clinical technology that can improve the quality of life of prostate cancer patients and, through reduced post treatment complications, lead to significant health cost savings,” Professor Rozenfeld says.

Professor Rozenfeld’s team is working with researchers from the Czech Technical University Prague, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, the University of Sydney and St George Hospital on the BrachyView research project.

Professor Rozenfeld and his team at the Centre for Radiation Physics are well established in the fields of radiation detection, measurement and targeting, with their work being applied in the clinical setting, and instruments being commercialised for clinical use across the globe.