Clinical Evaluation of a Magnetic Tracking System for Cervical Brachytherapy Applicator Tracking

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect women. One of the most effective ways of treating cervical cancer is brachytherapy. The dose in cervical brachytherapy is delivered with the use of an applicator that is placed during an operation through the vaginal canal to reach the cervix area. The dose in then delivered with the use of an after- loading system. The dose delivery is heavily reliant on the position of the applicator.Although ultrasound is used to provide information about the position of the applicator during the insertion process, in most cases the applicator is not visible on the ultrasound images. Therefore, the placement of the applicator mostly depends on the experience of the clinicians and misplacement of the applicator could Result in inaccurate dose delivery, increased levels of toxicity in healthy tissues and even punctures in the uterus during the insertion process. Magnetic tracking systems are currently in use in other medical procedures for guidance of needles or for image registration. Such a system is usually provided with ultrasound systems for registration between ultrasound and CT/MRI images. At the time of writing there were no evidence of a magnetic tracking system used for tracking gynaecological applicators during brachytherapy.