Advanced Technique Proves Effective in Clinical Practice

Researchers of the radiation brachytherapy laboratory of the Tumour Institute of the Academy of Medical Sciences have made achievements in the treatment of tumours by combining brachytherapy, a radiation therapy, with laser-induced thermal therapy.

Choe Il Song, PhD and its chief, was a medical worker who had established brachytherapy in his thirties for the first time in the country.

He selected rational radioactive materials and sealants needed for their use and completed the method as suited to the constitutional characteristics of Koreans. The method has proved very effective in treating malignant tumours of the mouth, jaw and face.

Not content with this, Choe Il Song, Professor and Doctor O Yong Sok, and Hwang Kum Hyok, Nam Won Il and other researchers developed a more advanced treatment method by combining laser-induced thermal therapy with brachytherapy.

Laser-induced thermal therapy is a method of killing tumour cells by heating the tumour centre to more than 100℃ and the peripheral region to 54-60℃ with laser radiation of wavelength 805-1 060 nm.

This combination therapy has greatly improved the status of patients with tumours, which were difficult to treat in the past, including the early stage of malignant tumours, highly risky or inoperable tumours, postoperative recurrence, and metastatic tumours.