Brachytherapy for skin cancer
Why brachytherapy for skin?
Brachytherapy offers an excellent non-invasive 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.
Ensuring a smooth clinical workflow
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)
Applicator selection
Diagnostic imaging guides the applicator choice
Skin applicators
Broadest range of CT/MR compatible applicators
Our wide array of applicators for brachytherapy are available for many applications, ranging from intracavitary to interstitial use and designed to deliver increasingly more precise doses in brachytherapy.
“The equidistance of the holes guarantees a precise separation of the catheters. The Freiburg Flap material allows a precise positioning in respect of the target and verification of the treatment area.”
Applicator placement
Skin brachytherapy applicators
Valencia skin applicator
- Non-invasive contact treatment option
- Unique flattening filter for homogeneous and controlled dose coverage
Freiburg Flap
- Adaptable for large and curved anatomies
- Easy to resize to match treatment area
- Consistent thickness for reproducible dosimetry
Treatment planning
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.
Oncentra Brachy
Comprehensive treatment planning software
Designing the optimal dose distribution 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 dose distribution.
Oncentra Brachy also helps you optimize treatment plan accuracy, providing easy navigation to any plane that offers the most relevant information per region of interest. Template solutions for repetitive tasks, such as the new Implant Modeling tool and the popular Applicator Modeling feature, help reduce implant reconstruction time. DVH presets and the ROI Catalog Manager can help improve accuracy and reproducibility. Powerful inverse planning optimization automates volume-based planning, making the process fast and efficient.
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
- 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 for treatment delivery is electronic brachytherapy with Esteya.
Why Esteya?
- Patient safety by design
- Non-invasive procedure
- Favorable treatment time
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 at University of Arizona, on Skin 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.
About Brachytherapy
Elekta also offers the only online brachytherapy portal for patients including awareness materials:
Elekta Care™ Service
Elekta Care supports you from startup through your product's lifecycle with comprehensive options from education, training and upgrades to solutions allowing you the highest uptime and improved operational efficiency.
