About the American Brachytherapy Society

The American Brachytherapy Society was founded in 1978 to provide insight, rationale, and research into the use of brachytherapy in the treatment of both malignant and benign conditions. The organization consists of physicians, physicists, nurses, radiation therapists, trainees in various disciplines and others interested in brachytherapy.

Brachytherapy is used primarily to treat prostate, breast, and cervical cancers and for a variety of other cancers including, lung, esophagus, skin cancer, sarcoma, rectum, penis, and ocular melanoma. Because it is much less invasive than surgery, and less disruptive to the patients, brachytherapy offers an effective and meaningful alternative for organ preservation (for example, penis cancer, ocular melanoma, and prostate or rectum cancer). Brachytherapy is an integral part of successful treatment for cervical cancer. When used as a component of treatment, brachytherapy improves survival in patients with advanced disease over the external beam radiation alone. Brachytherapy for prostate cancer improves disease outcomes over external beam radiation, and is a most cost effective treatment for prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be:

• 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer and 34,700 deaths due to prostate cancer in 2024 ( Since 2014, however, the incidence rate has increased by 3% per year overall and by about 5% per year for advanced-stage prostate cancer). Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men.
• 287,850 new cases of breast cancer and 43,250 deaths due to breast cancer in 2024.
• 12,710 new cases of cervical cancer, and 4,290 deaths due to cervical cancer in 2024.