Interstitial IR-192 implants of the oral cavity: the planning and construction of volume implants

The success of radioactive implant therapy for head and neck carcinomas depends critically on careful planning and execution of the implant procedure. In this paper we discuss our experience with oral tongue and floor of mouth implants, and some innovations introduced to facilitate these procedures. Implants were carried out using standard angiocatheters modified with magnetic caps at the open end and terminated with Teflon spacers and lead shot at the closed end. The importance of accurate source placement and careful determination of the target dose rate is discussed with numerical examples. Differential hot-loading of sources is clearly indicated in cases of extension of the lesion to the dorsal or lateral tongue surface. For dorsal surface extension the use of Teflon spacers at the closed ends of the catheters helps to ensure adequate coverage of the target volume with the higher dose region enclosing the demonstrable tumor. All 10 patients implanted with this technique are controlled without recurrence at a median follow-up of 38 months. The two complications observed appeared to be associated with excessive hot-loading of edge plane sources.