Abstract
Brachytherapy is a type of radiation therapy in which the radioactive source is directly
delivered to the tumor and is used to treat a variety of malignancies. Although the
local control effect of brachytherapy is higher than that of external beam radiation
therapy (EBRT), it is often the case that brachytherapy is more invasive than conventional
EBRT. As a result, patients receiving head and neck brachytherapy confront several
physical, nutritional, and pain management issues. The nurses caring for patients
with head and neck cancer receiving high-dose rate interstitial brachytherapy (ISBT)
should have a thorough understanding of radiation therapy principles, technology,
applicator management, and the acute and chronic side effects of ISBT. However, there
are no appropriate textbooks or review articles regarding nursing care for head and
neck patients undergoing ISBT. The purpose of this article is to provide radiation
oncologists and nurses who want to start head and neck ISBT with a comprehensive guide
regarding nursing care and to help the wide spread of this treatment strategy.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 22, 2022
Accepted:
October 21,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 7,
2022
Received:
September 1,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
Disclosures: Dr. Igaki reports grants and personal fees from HekaBio, grants from CICS, grants from Elekta KK, personal fees from Itochu, personal fees from HIMEDIC, personal fees from Varian, personal fees from GE Healthcare Pharma, outside the submitted work.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 American Brachytherapy Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
