ABSTRACT
Interstitial brachytherapy with permanent seeds or temporary high-dose-rate (HDR) implants has received a renewed interest in the last 20 years. Several causes have contributed to this situation of brachytherapy in the treatment of prostate cancer. First of all, thanks to the routine use of the transrectal ultrasound and prostate-specic antigen (PSA) in screening for prostate cancer, there has been a phenomenon of increased incidence and another one of stage migration. Secondly, the technological developments have made interstitial brachytherapy a highly sophisticated precision technique. e appearance of new isotopes other than 125I (103Pd in 1986 and more recently 131Cs) for permanent brachytherapy, developments in transrectal ultrasound (biplanar probe) and fundamentally the improvements introduced in dose planners, and the appearance of 3D ultrasound and real-time navigation systems have aorded brachytherapy a denitive push, which has brought it up to the same level as other local therapies for prostate cancer. Finally, the historical perspective has also put brachytherapy in its place. Encouraging clinical results for permanent seed implantation and temporary HDR brachytherapy conrm the eciency and durability of brachytherapy in the treatment of prostate cancer.
