|

Internal radiation therapy refers to treatments in which a radioactive substance is placed inside your body so it can release radiation from within. Often the substance is a small implant, which may be left in only for minutes or days or may be left in permanently. Internal radiation therapy could also be a pill that you take by mouth or a fluid you get intravenously (by IV).

Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is radiation therapy that’s delivered by implanting a small radioactive source—such as a seed, pellet, wire, needle or capsule—inside your body. A doctor places the source next to or inside the tumor using a tube-like applicator. Depending on your specific situation, you might need a high-dose radiation source that’s inserted for a short time (and then removed) on several occasions. Or you might need a low-dose radiation source that’s inserted once and left for week, months or permanently.

Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) Using Brachytherapy
In some cases, patients can get radiation treatment during surgery. This is called IORT. An implant can be placed next to or inside the tumor if all of the tumor can’t be removed, or at the area where the tumor was if there’s a high risk of the cancer recurring there. (IORT can also be done using external-beam radiation.)

Systemic Radiation Therapy
Radioactive medicines can be taken by mouth or injected into a vein. These medicines travel throughout the body, gather where there’s cancer and give off radiation to kill the cancer cells. One example of this is radioactive iodine, used to treat thyroid cancer.