Brachytherapy for skin cancer

Why brachytherapy for skin cancer treatment?

Brachytherapy offers an excellent non-invasive radiation therapy solution to complement or replace surgery for skin cancer. With our specialized solutions, a high radiation dose can be delivered to the tumor in a few fractions with a low dose to the surrounding area, providing a short and effective treatment to kill cancer cells.

Doctor

Connectivity to MOSAIQ® OIS

Confidence for you and your patients

  • Contributes to paperless brachytherapy workflow information
  • Automated scheduling and billing process
  • Documented dose and structure sets
  • Automatically exchange treatment plans created with Oncentra Brachy and treatment records generated by the afterloader
  • Perform dose tracking based on the treatment plan and treatment record for the selected and verified patient
  • Provide a more efficient and electronic way to capture information that will be included in the patient's Continuity of Care Document (CCD), data as required for meaningful use (Stage 1 and beyond)
Doctors discussing patient treatment plans

Applicator selection

Diagnostic imaging guides the applicator choice

Skin applicators

Broadest range of CT/MR compatible applicators

Our wide array of applicators for brachytherapy for skin cancers are available for many applications, ranging from intracavitary to interstitial use and designed to deliver increasingly more precise doses in brachytherapy.

View applicator guide

“The equidistance of the holes guarantees a precise separation of the catheters. The Freiburg Flap material allows precise positioning in respect of the target and verification of the treatment area.”

Dr. S. Stange, Albert Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg, Germany

Applicator placement

Skin brachytherapy applicators

Valencia skin applicator

  • Non-invasive contact treatment option
  • Unique flattening filter for homogeneous and controlled dose coverage for skin cancer cells
Valencia skin applicator

Freiburg Flap

  • Adaptable for large and curved anatomies
  • Easy to resize to match treatment area
  • Consistent thickness for reproducible dosimetry
Freiburg Flap

Treatment planning for skin cancer

Manual treatment planning for the Valencia and Leipzig applicator

  • Create a plan in the treatment communication console
  • Dose distribution charts are available for Iridium-192, not for Cobalt-60. The charts are not included in Oncentra Brachy treatment planning system.
Dose distribution plan with Valencia skin applicator
Dose distribution plan with Valencia skin applicator

Oncentra Brachy

Comprehensive treatment planning software

Designing the optimal dose distribution when treating skin cancer can be a time-consuming job. The latest version of Oncentra Brachy offers a series of useful tools that simplify many repetitive tasks, such as contouring and reconstruction. Oncentra Brachy buys you time to focus on what counts: creating the optimal radiotherapy for skin cancer dose distribution.

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Reduce implant reconstruction time

  • Instant applicator reconstruction in relation to anatomy
  • Contains the complete geometry of Elekta’s gynecological applicators
  • Includes the measured source paths of ring applicators
  • Accounts for dose attenuation resulting from shielding during planning and shields are fully visible

Dose distribution calculated by ACE

  • Algorithm based on the TG-186 recommendations published by the AAPM workgroup in 2012
  • Discriminates between tissue, air and bone
  • Accounts for tissue heterogeneities, lack of backscatter from areas with no tissue, applicator attenuation and shielding

Implant modeling tool

  • Reconstruct multicatheter implants immediately
  • Drag & Drop 3D applicator geometry for accurate and fast reconstruction
  • Extra Coordinate System (ECS) allows quick and easy navigation to the correct plane views

Automatic dose optimization

IPSA

  • Paired with the Dwell Time Deviation Constraint (DTDC)
  • Limits high variation in dwell times

HIPO

  • Improves plan optimization with Dwell Time Gradient Restriction (DTGR)
  • Control high and low peaks in dwell times
  • Focus optimization where it is needed with needle locking

Treatment delivery

Safe, simple, intuitive brachytherapy workflow

Five simple features are the basis for the Flexitron way of working, introducing a new standard in treatment delivery

  • Standardized transfer lengths, less prone to human errors during reconstruction as there is only one indexer length.
  • Reference zero at entrance of applicator, no need to measure the distal tip.
  • Metric dwell position numbering, 1 mm step size in a treatment window of 400 mm.
  • Forward stepping results in a reproducible source positioning within 0,5mm accuracy
  • Intuitive user interface, smooth navigation saves time.

Why Flexitron?

  • Simple quality assurance
  • 40-channel option for large implants
  • Connected to major oncology systems such as MOSAIQ®
  • Safe investment with future upgrade potential
  • Available in either Iridium-192 or Cobalt-60*

* Not available in all countries.

Electronic brachytherapy for treating skin cancer with Esteya®

Another option used to treat skin cancer cells is electronic brachytherapy with Esteya.

Why Esteya?

  • Patient safety by design
  • Non-invasive procedure
  • Favorable treatment time

For healthcare professionals For patients

Esteya gives patients and the healthcare team an effective and non-invasive alternative to surgery for treating skin cancer: electronic brachytherapy.

Esteya provides a targeted yet gentle skin cancer treatment through the delivery of a precise high dose of radiation to the cancerous site, minimizing radiation to surrounding healthy tissue and reducing chance of scarring. Because the treatment is short and gentle, patients can expect a rapid recovery period and may return to their normal routine quickly.

Esteya is especially beneficial in treating cosmetically challenging areas such as the nose, lips, cheeks, temples and fingers, and for areas prone to wound closure problems, such as the shin and scalp. Esteya may also be the preferred option for patients for whom surgery presents a high intra-operative or post-operative risk of complications.

Esteya provides an elegant approach for treating skin cancer, featuring the right size and portability to be used anywhere in the clinic.

Patient out

Find out about brachytherapy for other body regions

What our customers say

Sabhakar Mutyala, MD from University of Arizona, on Breast Brachytherapy

Michael Kasper, MD at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, on Skin Brachytherapy

Brachy­Academy

Empowering through education

Peer-to-peer education platform for brachytherapy professionals

The BrachyAcademy comprises a complete peer-to-peer medical education library and includes programs such as clinical workshops and training visits to leading hospitals worldwide.

Learn more
BrachyAcademy students sitting around a table Elekta BrachyAcademy logo

about brachytherapy

Screenshot of About Brachytherapy homepage

We've created our online educational brachytherapy portal for patients and those who are supporting patients throughout their curative treatment, to provide key information and to help those affected gain an understanding of brachytherapy.

Visit about brachytherapy

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