How I met Iridium -192: A Savi Story

Radiation is used to kill any stray cancer cells left over after surgery. The traditional whole breast radiation delivers radiation to the whole breast using a machine called a Linear Accelerator. It is outside of the breast .
Breast Brachytherapy is the application of radiation near where the cancer cells were taken out. It is delivered through a device that is placed inside the breast and the radiation is deliver through small small catheters that look like straws. The device was placed in my breast by my surgeon about two weeks after surgery. Part of the device is inside and part sticks out.


My device is called a SAVI. You can see it where it comes out the skin near the bottom of my breast.













This is the CAT scan image of the device inside of me. You can see the device on the left and shadows of my ribs in the middle portion of the image.

The machine that delivers the radiation for brachytherapy is called a High Dose Rate Remote Afterloader or HDR. It has tubes called catheters that hook up to the tubes on the SAVI device and the HDR sends little seeds of Iridium-192 through the device stopping the seeds every 5 mm for a very short time.

HDR Machine as seen by me while hooked up.







Me as seen by the HDR machine while hooked up.








The radiation treatment itself took about 15 minutes but I had a CAT scan to check the placement of the machine before each treatment and the doctor and the physicist checked the device and the HDR before each treatment. I had 5 days of twice daily treatments.

Jenn was one of my radiation therapists. She went to school in Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin in Lacrosse, I believe and she and her husband are looking for a house.




This is the CAT Scan machine.






I have now completed my radiation and meet for a second time with the oncologist on the 29th.

Thanks Dr. Kuske for helping me with all the radiation lingo and description!