Development and production of radioactive sources used for cancer treatment in Brazil

The number of cancer patients in Brazil is increasing and part of the patients are submitted to brachytherapy treatment using iridium-192 wire and iodine-125 radioactive seeds. The Nuclear Energy Research Institute established a programme to produce iridium-192 wire and iodine-125 radioactive seeds. With the purpose of settling a laboratory for iridium-192 sources production, a wire activation method was developed and a hot cell for the wire manipulation, quality assurance and packaging was built. The iodine-125 seeds consist of a welded titanium capsule containing iodine-125 adsorbed onto a silver rod. Concerning the setup of the local production, the following activities were carried out: superficial treatment of the silver rod, development of a process to absorb the iodine in the silver rod, welding methodology to seal the seeds, leakage and contamination test and source activity measurement.