Vienna, Austria

ESTRO 2023

Session Item

Other
5500
Poster (Digital)
Interdisciplinary
Current status of brachytherapy in a developing East-European Country
Elena Manea, Romania
PO-1066

Abstract

Current status of brachytherapy in a developing East-European Country
Authors:

Elena Manea1, Claudia Ordeanu2, Diana-Cristina Pop3, Stefanel Vlad4

1 “Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Radiotherapy, Iasi, Romania; 2Institute of Oncology “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, Radiotherapy, Cluj Napoca, Romania; 3Institute of Oncology “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, Physics, Cluj Napoca, Romania; 4Neolife Medical Center, Radiotherapy, Bucharest, Romania

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Purpose or Objective

To report the current status of brachytherapy (BT) units, techniques, and indications in a developing East-European Country.

Material and Methods

15 departments of radiotherapy (public and private) from Romania were included. Each department answered an electronic questionnaire regarding BT. Data reporting was done for 2021. The questionnaire included 23 questions regarding: type of hospital, number of equipment(s), type of equipment, service provided (by insurance company or with payment), number of patients and treatments, type of implants and procedure (endocavitary, interstitial, contact/surface, intraluminal), type of imaging used for planning( 2D X-rays, 3D computed tomography (CT), 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or endorectal ultrasound (US)), number of patients and procedure per type of treated cancer and each of the department’s input on challenges, problems and the future of BT in our country. The data was collected and statistical analyses.

Results

All 15 departments of radiotherapy completed the questionnaire. Regarding the type of department, there were 46.7% private hospital/clinic, 33.3% Institute of Oncology, and 20% in the county/city public hospital. Most of the clinics have been equipped since 2015. As equipment, there were: 11 Varian (Gammamed IX, Ir192) and 4 Elekta (2 Flexiton Ir192, 2 Selectron Ir192). 60% of treatments were provided by insurance company, 26.7% by private payment, and 13.3% by both. 3656 p were treated with BT and 10634 procedures were done in 2021. Endocavitary BT was available in all departments, interstitial for 40%, contact for 40%, and intraluminal for 13.3%. For the treatment plan imaging, 86.7% were made on CT, 26.7% on X-rays, 13.3% on MRI, and 6.7% on endorectal US. All the departments temporary implant was used. The types of cancer treated with BT were: 100% gynecological cancers, 40% rectal/anal cancer, 33.3% skin cancers, 20% sarcomas, and esophageal cancers, 13.3% prostate and breast cancer, 6.7% ENT and lung cancers. The most important n of p treated by type of cancer per 2021 were: gynecological (1198), skin (53 p), prostate (21), sarcomas (7), rectal (3), and breast (1). The main problems reported by the departments were underfunding of BT services, staff training, and implementation of interstitial BT in the public system. All the departments consider that BT training courses should be organized regularly in our country.

Conclusion

The current status of BT in our country identify the therapeutic possibilities and recognize the gaps for certain types of cancers. Our data provide an overview of the BT use at the present time in an East-European developing country, which seems to be going in a very good direction in recent years and should be considered for wider implementation in all the country to improve outcomes.