ABSTRACT
The first successful brachytherapy treatment for cancer was in 1903 in St. Petersburg by Goldberg and London who treated two patients with facial basal cell carcinoma. The various techniques developed differed in the design of the containers for the vaginal radium sources, the radioactive loading of the vaginal and uterine sources, and the number and duration of the brachytherapy intracavitary insertions in vagina and uterus. The earliest brachytherapy treatments were surface applications of radium or intracavitary treatments for cancers of the uterus and vagina, but interstitial brachytherapy with radium inserted into the tumour soon followed. Templates are also used in interstitial brachytherapy for body sites such as the prostate and the current sophisticated techniques, which often also make use of CT scans, bear no resemblance to the early 'straightforward' implantation of radium needles for a prescribed time to deliver a given number of milligram-hours dose.
