Sophisticated radiation therapy offers modern benefits.

At Sharp HealthCare, our caring team of professionals is here to provide you the best possible cancer care. As part of that commitment to care, we offer brachytherapy — a sophisticated form of internal radiation therapy with many modern benefits.

Your radiation oncologists will create a personalized treatment plan to most effectively treat your cancer, and together you will decide which treatment is right for you.

A safe, effective option for cancer treatment.

At Sharp, we use brachytherapy to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer, as well as select other cancers. Brachytherapy directly targets the cancerous area inside or next to the tumor, protecting surrounding healthy tissue and offering a safe and effective alternative to surgical treatment.

Brachytherapy offers a short treatment time and no surgery. Benefits include preservation of healthy tissue, a quick recovery time, reduced risk of infection and a short or no hospital stay.

Brachytherapy can be delivered as a short course of treatment (high-dose rate, or HDR) or as a permanent implant (low-dose rate, or LDR).

With LDR brachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed inside your body by a team of experts specially trained in this procedure, including your radiation oncologist. Your oncologist will create a personalized treatment plan to determine how many seeds need to be placed to most effectively treat your cancer.

With HDR brachytherapy, radioactive sources are loaded into catheters or cylinders positioned inside or near the tumor. This type of brachytherapy is performed on an outpatient basis over several days in the radiation department. While most HDR brachytherapy courses can be delivered to you as an outpatient, some may require an overnight hospital stay.

SAVI® for breast cancer patients.

SAVI® is a new brachytherapy procedure that offers safe and effective radiation therapy for breast cancer patients in just five days.

After your surgeon performs a lumpectomy (removal of breast tumor), they will make a small incision in the breast and insert a small, soft SAVI® applicator through which the treatment will be delivered.

Radiation treatments are delivered twice a day over a consecutive five-day period for a total of 10 treatments. During each treatment, a catheter is attached to the applicator within the breast, then small radioactive seeds are inserted. These seeds remain within the device during treatment delivery. Each radiation treatment takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes, as determined by the treatment plan.

Prostate brachytherapy.

In some cases, brachytherapy is used to treat prostate cancer. This is typically an option for men who have early stage prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate, who are unable or unwilling to undergo removal of the prostate or do not want to endure eight weeks of daily radiation treatments.

With prostate brachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed in the prostate while you are in the operating room under general anesthesia. Your radiation oncologist utilizes ultrasound images to create a personalized treatment plan to determine the number and position of radioactive seeds.

This procedure allows you to go home on the same day as the procedure and return to a normal life.