[Combination of interstitial hyperthermia and afterloading therapy at a high-dosage rate]

The study was supposed to develop a method allowing to combine interstitial hyperthermia with high dose rate afterloading therapy. For hyperthermia, metallic hollow needles, which are also used in brachytherapy, are connected with the RF source by a computer-controlled relay switch. The temperature is measured by thermistors incorporated into the needles. Several heating methods are investigated in a homogenous phantom and compared by means of the experimentally determined temperature/time evolutions and isotherms (in a stationary state).