Combined brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy in normal monkey brains--experimental radiation necrosis...

Radiation-induced brain damage was evaluated using sequential magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in monkeys more than 1 year after either brachytherapy or combined brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). MR images were obtained 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and subsequently every 3 months after brachytherapy, and the volume of the lesions was measured. In all four monkeys receiving only brachytherapy and three of the four animals receiving combined brachytherapy and EBRT, MR imaging revealed only transient extensive edema 1 week after treatment and ring enhancement, which was maximal 3 months after treatment, surrounding the implantation site. In one of the four animals undergoing combined brachytherapy and EBRT, MR images obtained 9 months after treatment showed an irregularly extending enhanced lesion with edema. MR images obtained 15 months after brachytherapy in this monkey showed the lesion extended into the contralateral hemisphere through the corpus callosum. Necropsy revealed severe radiation necrosis. This animal developed a very similar MR imaging presentation to that often encountered in human brains after combined brachytherapy and EBRT.