Indications for 125 Iodine Brachytherapy in Brain Tumor: A Review

Abstract

Background: To identify indications for 125Iodine brachytherapy in brain tumor and determine whether the outcomes are comparable with the other treatment.

Materials and Methods: MEDLINE, EMBase, CINAHL and PEDro in English were investigated to October 2013. From the identified literature, brain tumors used to treat with 125Iodine brachytherapy were collected and classified. Complications and survival of cases were extracted and categorized.

Results: We have reviewed 201 published articles and studied indications for 125Iodine brachytherapy in brain. 125 Iodine have been successfully used in astrocytomas I-III, GBM, metastases and several other tumors particularly in an eloquent areas and comparable with other treatment methods. Preferably, the diameter of the tumor should be >4 cm.

Conclusions: The 125Iodine Brachytherapy with careful selection of cases, with circumscribed and relatively small sized tumors appears to be a safe, feasible and minimally- invasive treatment. In case of larger tumor volumes (>4 cm), partial resection combined with brachytherapy is recommended.

Keywords: brachytherapy,125Iodine, review,brain