What’s this procedure?

Brachytherapy

This is used to treat cancers by placing radioactive material inside the patient on a temporary or permanent basis.

In temporary brachytherapy, the radioactive material is placed inside a catheter or put next to the cancer for a specific amount of time, and then removed.

Temporary brachytherapy can be high or low dose. Permanent brachytherapy, also called seed implantation, involves placing radioactive seeds or pellets (about the size of a grain of rice) in or near the tumour and leaving them there permanently.

After several months, the radioactivity level of the implants eventually drops to nothing. The inactive seeds then remain in the body with no lasting effect.