The current status of brachytherapy in Europe - A GEC-ESTRO Brachy-HERO survey

Abstract

A survey regarding utilisation of brachytherapy was distributed to European brachytherapy professionals. Eighty replies from 26 countries were received, two of which were outside Europe. The replies showed that brachytherapy is still widely used. The main indications for brachytherapy are gynaecological and prostate cancer, with >80 % of the responding countries performing brachytherapy for these indications. There is on average one brachytherapy centre per 0.8 million inhabitants, ranging from 0.4 per million to 2.3 per million inhabitants. The organisation of brachytherapy on national levels also varies from country to country, with less than half of the countries having a central brachytherapy registry. All in all, the survey shows that brachytherapy still plays a role on modern radiotherapy, but the field could benefit from a stronger collaboration both nationally and internationally.

Fig. 1

A map showing the countries from which responses were received (white countries: no responses received). The colours indicate whether or not a national BT registry exists (Light grey: countries reported to have a registry, Black: Countries with no reported registry, dark grey: Both yes and no answers received from the given country regarding a national registry). Countries with at least one BT responsible person are indicated with a white diamond.

Fig. 2

The number of BT centres per million inhabitants (right-side y-axis). Both maximum (dark grey squares) and minimum (light grey triangles) reported number of centres are shown. Black bars: The amount of different clinical indications treated with BT in the given countries (left-side y-axis).