Services at Advanced Brachytherapy Clinic (ABC) PENANG

Brachytherapy (short range therapy in Greek) is also known as interventional radiotherapy. While radiotherapy has been proven to sterilize any tumor in the body if enough dose is delivered, there is always the issue of surrounding normal tissue damage when radiation in delivered outside-in as in external beam radiation (EBRT). Unlike EBRT, very high dose of radiation can be delivered directly into the tumor with minimal damage to the surrounding tissue by placing brachytherapy applicators directly inside the tumor.

The dedicated team consisting of radiation oncologists, head & neck surgeons, radiologist/interventional radiologists, hepatobiliary surgeons, general surgeons and medical physicist have popularized and developed advanced brachytherapy techniques at USMBMC. We treat wide range of tumors with brachytherapy (interventional radiotherapy) such as primary and metastatic liver tumors, tongue and head&neck cancer, sarcoma, oesophageal cancer, rectal cancer and gynaecology cancers. The Hybrid Brachytherapy followed by Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (HyBIRT) is a novel technique developed by PPUSMB team for organ preservation technique (non-operative management) in tongue cancer.