An afterloading 192Ir surface mold.

Patients with basal cell skin cancer can be treated with afterloading 192Ir surface molds constructed from dental wax. High activity 192Ir seeds in ribbons are distributed in the mold to uniformly irradiate the target volume. The treatment is preplanned with a treatment planning system to achieve a uniform dose distribution in the planned target volume. The implant parameters optimized include the seed strength and number of seeds, inter- and intracatheter spacing between 192Ir seeds, and the distance between the implant and treatment planes. The radioactive 192Ir strands are afterloaded in the catheters embedded in the wax mold and the position secured with buttons. The treatment area drawn on the patient surface is visually overlapped with the uniformly irradiated area sketched on the mold surface. The mold is taped to the head to secure this position. The dose rate on the surface of the mold in contact with the patient skin is measured with calibrated LiF TLD chips and is within +/- 5% of the computer preplanned dose rate value. This technique is a viable alternative to external beam treatments when daily treatments are not feasible and a dose distribution conforming to the treatment area is desirable.