IAEA/RCA Regional Training Course (RTC) on “Brachytherapy of Gastrointestinal Malignancies - beyond palliation” will be held at Gunma University School of Medicine in Maebashi, Japan in 23-27 October 2006. This training course is designed to present the theoretical basis to utilize and improve the quality of brachytherapy treatment of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.

The number of cancer patients is also increasing among developed and developing RCA Member States. This disease has become a burden to national development. Cancers of cervix, head and neck, breast, prostate and oesophagus are common malignancies in most of the RCA Member States and radiotherapy, including brachytherapy is an essential treatment modality, especially when organ conservation and function preservation is required.

However, even those who present in early or curable stages suffer from recurrence because they cannot be treated optimally due to inadequate quality assurance programmes, and lack of expertise and facilities for radiotherapy. All these factors result in poor treatment outcomes leading to high morbidity and mortality and thus, there is a need to address these problems to improve the quality of treatment of cancer patients.

In accordance with this situation, the course has the following aims: 1) To examine in detail the various available applicators for quality assurance procedures and the implications for daily clinical practice, 2) To detail the minimal requirements needed for a good brachytherapy practice, 3) To compare results achieved with brachytherapy with or without external beam irradiation with those achieved using other modalities. The course will focus in the application of brachytherapy for malignancies of the gastro-intestinal tract for curative and palliative purpose.

For further information, contact Dr. Takashi Nakano at tnakano@med.gunma-u.ac.jp, or fax: +81 27 2208397.