Brachytherapy Implant Needle
Brachytherapy needles · Seed implant needle · Seed needle · Preloaded seed needle · Brachytherapy applicator needle · Mick applicator needle · BrachyStar · IsoCord needle
A long, thin hollow needle, usually 17 or 18 gauge and about 20 cm long, with centimeter marks, an echogenic tip and a removable stylet with a colored hub. Some stylets have a sharp trocarTROH-karA sharp or bladed instrument inside a tube (cannula), used to pierce a body wall and leave the tube in place as a port.Full entry point; needles for stranded seeds have rounded stylets.
On the table
What it does, the lengths it comes in and what experienced techs know about it.
What it’s for
Places radioactive seeds (iodineEYE-uh-dyneA mineral the thyroid gland uses to make thyroid hormone; it is also used to kill germs on the skin and in some contrast dyes.Full entry -125, palladium-103 or cesium-131) into the prostatePROS-taytA walnut-sized gland below the bladder in males that surrounds the urethra and makes part of the fluid in semen.Full entry in a permanent seed implant. Needles come preloaded with loose seeds and spacers or a seed strand, or empty for use with a Mick applicator that drops seeds one at a time down the needle with a long plunger. Each needle is passed through its template grid hole into the prostate under real-time ultrasound, pushed past the target and drawn back, and the seeds are laid from base to apex. Peripheral needles go in first, then the interior ones.
Lengths and variants
17 and 18 gauge, 20 cm long. Versions for loose seeds, for stranded seeds (some pre-waxed) and empty needles for a Mick applicator. Related needles: stabilization or fixation needles that hold the prostatePROS-taytA walnut-sized gland below the bladder in males that surrounds the urethra and makes part of the fluid in semen.Full entry still.
What experienced techs know
What techs who reach for it every day know about it.Pro
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Caution
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6 sources
- Rothrock. Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery. 17th ed. Chapter 15 (Genitourinary Surgery), p. 490-491
- Hinman. Atlas of Urologic Surgery. 5th ed. Chapter 77 (Brachytherapy), p. 639-641
- Fuller. Surgical Technology: Principles and Practice. 8th ed. Chapter 24 (Genitourinary Surgery), p. 602
- medical.ezag.com
- medical.ezag.com
- bd.com
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