Intracavitary Irradiation of Carcinoma of the Cervix Stage Ib and IIA: A clinical comparison between a remote high dose-rate afterloading system and a low dose-rate manual system

Abstract

The clinical results of a remote high dose-rate afterloading technique with individual three-dimensional treatment planning were compared with those of a manual low dose-rate technique for intracavitary irradiation of cervical carcinoma stage IB and II A. The rates of residual tumour at operation, local recurrence and survival were comparable with the two techniques. The rate of treatment complications was lower with the high dose-rate technique even when external irradiation was added. Better central shielding for external pelvic irradiation is possible when intracavitary irradiation is performed with higher accuraCY.