Development of a new Cf-252 source for remote afterloading neutron brachytherapy: Implications and applications

Purpose: Advantages of neutrons in treating radioresistant tumors make 252Cf an attractive alternative to traditional brachytherapy sources. However, clinical applications have been limited by large source sizes, manual handling during application, and the limited amount of 252Cf per source. In 1997 we began to determine if existing 252Cf sources, known as “AT”, could be miniaturized and made compatible with modern HDR technology.