Image fusion guided brachytherapy of brain tumors.

The paper is the summary of mostly published works of the clinical results of intracavitary Yttrium-90 colloid irradiation of recurrent cystic craniopharyngiomas, and Iodine-125 interstitial irradiation of gliomas, pinealomas, brainstem tumors, recurrent meningeomas, solid craniopharyngiomas and metastases. It concisely demonstrates the usefulness of image fusion in the verification of isotope seeds and catheters, the comparison of 125 Iodine stereotactic brachytherapy and LINAC radiosurgery modalities on physical dose distribution and radiobiological efficacy, and the analysis of volumetric changes after interstitial irradiation of gliomas. Results of the immunohistochemical study deal with the role of microglia/macrophage system in the tissue response to 1-125 interstitial brachytherapy of cerebral gliomas. Due to financial reasons, gamma knife and Linac are not available to many countries and neurosurgical institutes. In the absence of the above mentioned radiosurgical methods, we have shown brachytherapy as an alternative solution in the treatment of different types of inoperable or recurrent brain tumors. The observed results may be noticable at LINAC and gamma knife irradiation too.