Summary
The origin of brachytherapy is directly related to the discovery of radioactivity by Becquerel in 1896, which
led to Marie and Pierre Curie discovering radium in 1898. The first successful radium brachytherapy was
the skin irradiation of two patients with basal cell carcinoma in St. Petersburg in 1903. The surface mold
and plaque treatments were followed by intracavitary techniques for cervical and endometrial cancer.
A few years later, an interstitial radium brachytherapy technique was developed, and most body areas
were treated with radium brachytherapy. In the 1950s, radium was replaced by artificial cobalt-60 and
cesium-137. In the 1960s, iridium-192 was the most commonly used source of brachytherapy. During
this time period, remote afterloading devices were developed, and improvements in imaging techniques
and computer technology were adapted to brachytherapy. The evolution of brachytherapy has continued
over the years, but many of the techniques have remained unchanged. The limited use of brachytherapy
compared to conformal external radiotherapy may be due to its invasive approach, operative risk, technical
difficulty, and long learning curve. Today with the development of imaging techniques and dose
planning, individual treatment planning has become possible. The success of brachytherapy has increased
with extensive technological advances, accurate three-dimensional dose distributions in the patient, and
optimization of treatment planning. In this article, the history of brachytherapy will be briefly reviewed.
