High-activity iodine-125 endocurietherapy for head and neck tumors.

Inoperable solid tumor recurrence within a surgical bed or within a previously irradiated field usually responds poorly to re-treatment with conventional external beam irradiation (EXRT) and/or chemotherapy. We present a new, alternative method of re-treatment used in two patients with recurrent head and neck cancer involving the parotid (adenocarcinoma) and neck nodes (squamous cell carcinoma). These patients were successfully re-treated with high-activity 125iodine (I-125) permanent implantation.