ABSTRACT Objectives: Brachytherapy (BT) with iodine-125 seeds placement is a consolidated treatment for prostate cancer. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical outcomes in patients with prostate cancer who underwent low-dose-rate (LDR) -BT alone in a single Brazilian institution. Materials and Methods: Patients treated with iodine-125 BT were retrospectively assessed after at least 5 years of follow-up. Patients who received combination therapy (External beam radiation therapy-EBRT and BT) and salvage BT were not included. Results: 406 men were included in the study (65.5% low-risk, 30% intermediate-risk, and 4.5% high-risk patients). After a median follow-up of 87.5 months, 61 (15.0%) patients developed biochemical recurrence. The actuarial biochemical failure-free survival (BFFS) at 5 and 10 years were 90.6% and 82.2%, respectively. A PSA nadir ≥ 1 ng / mL was associated with a higher risk of biochemical failure (HR = 5.81; 95% CI: 3.39 to 9.94; p ≤ 0.001). The actuarial metastasis-free survival (MFS) at 5 and 10 years were 98.3% and 94%, respectively. The actuarial overall survival (OS) at 5 and 10 years were 96.2% and 85.1%, respectively. Acute and late grade 2 and 3 gastrointestinal toxicities were observed in 5.6%, 0.5%, 4.6% and 0.5% of cases, respectively. For genitourinary the observed acute and late grade 2 and 3 toxicities rates were 57.3%, 3.6%, 28% and 3.1%, respectively. No grade 4 and 5 were observed. Conclusions: BT was effective as a definitive treatment modality for prostate cancer, and its endpoints and toxicities were comparable to those of the main series in the literature.

A formação inicial e continuada de profissionais de física médica possui características peculiares por ser uma área interdisciplinar, de evolução tecnológica constante. Em países como o Brasil, existem barreiras como: pequeno número de profissionais, geograficamente mal distribuídos, baixos recursos financeiros, e poucas opções em termos de acesso à informação, dificultando a incorporação e disseminação de novas técnicas que impactam na qualidade do atendimento em saúde. Esta revisão da literatura se propôs a avaliar o papel da EaD na educação de físicos médicos, retratando sua aplicabilidade mediante a identificação de experiências relevantes. Os trabalhos mostram que a EaD tem características interessantes para a área, tais como alta efetividade pedagógica e eficiência econômica, possibilitando o uso massivo de recursos multimídia, com grande abrangência geográfica e de forma gerenciável. Portanto tem potencial para superar as barreiras e suprir carências da área.

Pre-service and in-service education relating to medical physics have peculiar characteristics since this is an interdisciplinary field with constant technological evolution. In countries like Brazil, several barriers exist, such as small numbers of professionals who are geographically poorly distributed, low financial resources and few options for information access, thereby hindering and delaying the incorporation and dissemination of new techniques that could have an impact on healthcare quality. This literature review evaluated the role of distance education within medical physics, and portrayed its applicability through identifying relevant experiences. Studies have shown that distance education within this field presents interesting characteristics, such as high pedagogical effectiveness and economic efficiency, which enables massive use of multimedia resources with wide geographical coverage, in a manageable way. Therefore, distance education has potential to overcome the barriers and meet the needs.

La formación y la educación continua de profesionales en física médica tiene características únicas, es un campo interdisciplinario, donde la tecnología está en evolución constante. Países como Brasil, tienen barreras como: número reducido de profesionales, geográficamente distribuidos de forma desigual, escasos recursos financieros y pocas opciones en términos de acceso a información, dificultando la incorporación y difusión de nuevas técnicas que afectan la calidad de atención en salud. Esta revisión de literatura evalúa el papel de EaD en la educación de físicos médicos, retratando su aplicabilidad mediante identificación de experiencias relevantes. Artículos muestran que EaD tiene características interesantes para la física médica, como alta eficacia pedagógica y eficiencia económica, permitiendo uso masivo de recursos mediáticos, con amplia cobertura geográfica y de forma manejable. Por lo tanto, la herramienta tiene potencial para superar los obstáculos y satisfacer las necesidades del área.

A formação inicial e continuada de profissionais de física médica possui características peculiares por ser uma área interdisciplinar, de evolução tecnológica constante. Em países como o Brasil, existem barreiras como: pequeno número de profissionais, geograficamente mal distribuídos, baixos recursos financeiros, e poucas opções em termos de acesso à informação, dificultando a incorporação e disseminação de novas técnicas que impactam na qualidade do atendimento em saúde. Esta revisão da literatura se propôs a avaliar o papel da EaD na educação de físicos médicos, retratando sua aplicabilidade mediante a identificação de experiências relevantes. Os trabalhos mostram que a EaD tem características interessantes para a área, tais como alta efetividade pedagógica e eficiência econômica, possibilitando o uso massivo de recursos multimídia, com grande abrangência geográfica e de forma gerenciável. Portanto tem potencial para superar as barreiras e suprir carências da área.

Pre-service and in-service education relating to medical physics have peculiar characteristics since this is an interdisciplinary field with constant technological evolution. In countries like Brazil, several barriers exist, such as small numbers of professionals who are geographically poorly distributed, low financial resources and few options for information access, thereby hindering and delaying the incorporation and dissemination of new techniques that could have an impact on healthcare quality. This literature review evaluated the role of distance education within medical physics, and portrayed its applicability through identifying relevant experiences. Studies have shown that distance education within this field presents interesting characteristics, such as high pedagogical effectiveness and economic efficiency, which enables massive use of multimedia resources with wide geographical coverage, in a manageable way. Therefore, distance education has potential to overcome the barriers and meet the needs.

La formación y la educación continua de profesionales en física médica tiene características únicas, es un campo interdisciplinario, donde la tecnología está en evolución constante. Países como Brasil, tienen barreras como: número reducido de profesionales, geográficamente distribuidos de forma desigual, escasos recursos financieros y pocas opciones en términos de acceso a información, dificultando la incorporación y difusión de nuevas técnicas que afectan la calidad de atención en salud. Esta revisión de literatura evalúa el papel de EaD en la educación de físicos médicos, retratando su aplicabilidad mediante identificación de experiencias relevantes. Artículos muestran que EaD tiene características interesantes para la física médica, como alta eficacia pedagógica y eficiencia económica, permitiendo uso masivo de recursos mediáticos, con amplia cobertura geográfica y de forma manejable. Por lo tanto, la herramienta tiene potencial para superar los obstáculos y satisfacer las necesidades del área.

Micose fungoide é um tipo de linfoma não Hodgkin de células T raro que acomete primariamente a pele. Caracteriza-se pela presença de placas eritematosas que evoluem para lesões ulceradas, tumores em toda a pele ou ainda infiltração de medula óssea em estágios avançados. Como opção de tratamento para os casos iniciais, tem-se quimioterapia e corticoterapia tópica, fototerapia e radioterapia. Este estudo relata o caso de um doente com múltiplas lesões tumorais na pele já biopsiadas com diagnóstico de micose fungoide. O paciente foi refratário ao tratamento com quimioterapia tópica e fototerapia, sendo então indicada irradiação total da pele com elétrons

Mycosis fungoides is a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of T cells that primarily affects the skin. It is characterized by the presence of erythematous plaques that evolve into ulcerated lesions, tumors throughout the skin or even bone marrow infiltration in advanced stages. Chemotherapy and topical steroids, phototherapy and radiotherapy are treatment options for early cases. This study reports the case of patient with multiple tumor lesions in the skin already biopsied with diagnosis of mycosis fungoides. The patient was refractory to both treatments with topical chemotherapy and phototherapy. It was then indicated total skin irradiation with electrons

Intra-operative radiotherapy (IORT) using electron beams has demonstrated to be a good alternative as part of the breast-conserving surgery. Besides, as the computer processing capacity has been increasing along the years, it has become a potential auxiliary tool in radiotherapy treatment planning. In this work these streams are merged together: simulations were performed by different Monte Carlo radiation transport codes (EGS4 and MCNP in its releases 4C and 5) in an attempt to not only examine the efficacy of Al and Pb discs used in IORT procedures to protect critical regions but also to compare the performance of the forementioned codes.