Brachytherapy

This chapter is included for a historical perspective as brachytherapy is not commonly performed anymore with the advent of more sophisticated linear accelerators and lower toxicities obtained with IMRT. However, brachytherapy literature is the foundation on which SBRT is justified and brachytherapy can be utilized in a number of H&N sites to treat early stage tumors, primarily in the oral cavity. Brachytherapy can be used as sole treatment or in combination with EBRT for definitive, small, early stage tumors or in re-irradiation setting.