Physical and Dosimetric Aspects of the Iridium-Knife.

The three-dimensional iridium-192 ( ¹⁹² Ir) high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy manifests itself as a high-precision, hypofractionated, dose-escalating, minimally invasive method in the armamentarium of contemporary radiation oncology clinical applications. In this study, the physical aspects of the ¹⁹² Ir radionuclide are presented. Its dosimetric application in HDR brachytherapy for different anatomical sites (prostate, gynecological malignancies, liver, and intrathoracic tumors) as well as the corresponding dosimetric comparison with the stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) techniques based on a representative selection of dosimetric publications is reviewed and illustrated.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2021 Roussakis and Anagnostopoulos.)