Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

Radiotherapy is an effective and safe treatment for cancer. Approximately 50% of cancer patients benefit from this treatment, that is, close to 100,000 Canadians with cancer each year. Brachytherapy, is a form of radiotherapy where radioactive sources are placed inside or near the tumours using thin, hollow tubes (catheters) implanted for a short period of time, giving a high radiation dose to the tumour while maintaining a low dose to surrounding healthy tissues. However, dose distribution in conventional brachytherapy is identical in all directions resulting in dose spillage to radiation sensitive healthy tissues. This proposal aims to develop a novel radiation delivery system that will manipulate the radiation dose to conform to the shape of a tumour by incorporating radiation shields inside the implanted hollow tubes, i.e. the delivery system will modulate the intensity of the emitted radiation from the brachytherapy source. The shields can rotate during the treatment, direct the radiation towards the tumour and away from healthy tissues. Developing and making intensity modulated brachytherapy clinically available, will significantly improve the potential of brachytherapy with reduced toxicity will increase the cure rates and improve the quality of life for Canadians with prostate, breast, cervical, uterine, vaginal, vulvar, head & neck and oesophageal cancers. In addition, this proposal will offer undergraduate and graduate student to work in a multidisciplinary environment with radiation oncology, radiation physics, biology, computing and engineering.