Biliary internal radiotherapy

6. Biliary internal radiotherapy

Intraluminal brachytherapy is another percutaneous palliative intervention, involving catheter-mediated delivery of radiation to malignant biliary strictures. It is considered more efficient compared to external beam therapy as it allows more precise and higher doses of radiation to be delivered. The effective therapeutic range is 0.5–2.0 cm, and thus its effect is confined to the duct wall and does little damage to the surrounding radiosensitive tissues.