Nursing care of the patient receiving high dose rate brachytherapy

Over the past few decades, a significant increase in the incidence of lung cancer has occurred. In the majority of patients, the failure to cure lung cancer is related in part to an inability to obtain locoregional control of the disease. Remote afterloading high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy has tremendous potential as a way to increase treatment to the primary site of lung cancer and to improve palliative management of recurrent disease when conventional treatments have failed. Because remote afterloading is used, the medical staff is not exposed to ionizing radiation, and since the duration of treatment is short, HDR brachytherapy is convenient for the patient and can be delivered on an outpatient basis. Fifty-two patients were treated endobronchially for carcinoma of the lung at Parkview Regional Oncology Center in Fort Wayne, IN, between May 1, 1988, and September 1, 1990. Nursing care during treatment and recovery of these patients will be discussed in this paper.