Preparation of 125I brachytherapy seeds by iodinating carbon bars with a silver coating.

A method for preparing 125I brachytherapy seeds is presented. Carbon bars were used as the substrates, on which a silver coating was deposited by electroless plating, and then, 125I was adsorbed by iodinating the silver coating so as to prepare source cores. The radioactive cores were sealed individually in the titanium capsule to fabricate the 125I brachytherapy seeds. Quality control checking of the encapsulated 125I seeds for dimension, leakage and surface contamination were performed. And the 125I seeds using carbon bar as the core substrate underwent computed tomography (CT) scan and X-ray imaging to determine the visualization. This paper provides valuable experiences and data for the preparation of 125I brachytherapy seeds.