3D-printed Template Guides Radioactive Seed Implantation to New Heights in Tumor Radiotherapy

3D-Printed Coplanar Template-Guided Radioactive Seed Implantation Reshapes the New Heights of Intratumoral Radiotherapy

When tumors grow in complex locations, or when patients are unable to undergo surgery due to their physical condition, precise treatment becomes paramount. The 3D-printed coplanar template-guided radioactive seed implantation procedure, successfully implemented by the Tumor Minimally Invasive Treatment Center at Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital, integrates cutting-edge technologies, elevating intratumoral radiotherapy to an unprecedented level of precision.

I. What is Radioactive Seed Implantation?

This is an advanced form of "brachytherapy." Doctors permanently implant numerous radioactive iodine-125 seeds, each about the size of a grain of rice, directly into the tumor. Each seed acts as a continuous miniature radiation source, emitting short-range radiation from within the tumor to efficiently kill cancer cells, while simultaneously minimizing damage to surrounding normal tissues and organs.

II. Core Technological Breakthrough: 3D-Printed Personalized Navigation Template

Traditional implantation relies heavily on the surgeon's tactile sense and experience, making it difficult to perfectly execute the pre-operative plan within complex three-dimensional anatomy. 3D-printed template technology solves this core challenge, ushering surgery into the "era of digital precision."

1. Three-Dimensional Digital Planning:​ Based on your exclusive CT/MRI data, a team of doctors and medical physicists performs a 3D reconstruction of the tumor and surrounding critical structures on a computer. They meticulously plan the 3D coordinates, implantation path, and radiation dose for each seed, generating an optimal "personalized treatment blueprint."
2. Physical Navigation Template:​ Using 3D printing technology, a personalized template is custom-made for you, perfectly conforming to the surface of your body. The position and angle of each guiding hole on the template precisely correspond to the needle insertion paths in the digital plan, achieving a seamless transition from "virtual planning" to "physical guidance."
3. Millimeter-Precise Implantation:​ During the procedure, surgeons use this stable template to guide the needles, allowing them to easily and accurately deliver each seed to its predetermined location. This greatly enhances the precision, reproducibility, and efficiency of the surgery, ensuring the pre-planned lethal radiation dose completely covers the tumor.

III. Core Advantages of Combining "Seeds + Template"

• Significantly Enhanced Efficacy:​ Particularly for tumors adjacent to "danger zones" like major blood vessels, nerves, or intestines, or for irregularly shaped tumors, it enables safer and more thorough dose coverage, thereby improving local control rates.
• Excellent Safety:​ Extreme precision fundamentally reduces the risk of inadvertent injury to normal tissues, leading to lower rates of complications such as bleeding and infection, and faster patient recovery post-procedure.
• Standardized Treatment Process:​ It simplifies complex three-dimensional spatial operations into precise planar operations, reducing surgical difficulty, shortening procedure time, and decreasing radiation exposure for both the medical team and the patient during the operation.

IV. Broad Indications

This technique provides a crucial curative or palliative treatment option for various solid tumors, and is particularly suitable for:

• Prostate cancer (especially intermediate- and low-risk patients).
• Primary or metastatic tumors such as liver cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
• Recurrent head and neck tumors, soft tissue sarcomas.
• Patients who cannot tolerate major surgery or external beam radiotherapy due to factors like age or cardiopulmonary function.

V. Authoritative Technical Assurance

This technique is performed at our center under the comprehensive, in-depth guidance and technical support of the renowned domestic expert in tumor minimally invasive therapy, Professor Zhang Kaixian. From multidisciplinary evaluation and personalized plan design to standardized surgical procedures, we have established a complete quality control system, ensuring the treatment aligns with international frontier concepts.

Expert Introduction

Zhang Kaixian

Director of the Oncology Department at Tengzhou Central People's Hospital in Shandong Province. He specializes in image-guided minimally invasive tumor therapy. He is a pioneer in China in performing 3D-printed template-guided precision biopsy for non-palpable small nodules, conducting dosimetry studies on esophageal radioactive seed stents, utilizing microwave ablation combined with cementoplasty for spinal metastases, and implementing 3D-printed coplanar template-guided radioactive seed implantation.

He also holds the positions of Deputy Director of the Youth Committee of the Tumor Minimally Invasive Therapy Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Standing Committee Member and Deputy Secretary-General of the Particle Therapy Branch of the same committee, and Standing Committee Member of the Lung Cancer Minimally Invasive Comprehensive Therapy Branch of the same committee.

Our Commitment:​ We understand that combating cancer requires wisdom and courage, and even more so, precise and advanced tools. 3D-printed template-guided seed implantation technology is precisely such a "precision instrument" that we provide for you. The Tumor Minimally Invasive Treatment Center of Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital is always committed to safeguarding your life and health with the most cutting-edge minimally invasive technologies, igniting the hope of life with precision technology.

Department Profile: Tumor Minimally Invasive Treatment Center, Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital

Core Treatment Programs:

1. Hyperthermic Perfusion Therapy: Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC): For treating primary or metastatic peritoneal carcinomatosis. Hyperthermic Intrathoracic Chemotherapy (HITOC): For treating pleural mesothelioma and malignant pleural effusion.
2. Tumor Thermal Ablation and Chemical Ablation: Microwave/Radiofrequency Ablation: Suitable for tumors and benign diseases in the liver, lung, kidney, prostate, bone, thyroid, breast, uterus, and other areas. Chemical Ablation: Suitable for small hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic/renal cysts, ovarian cysts, etc.
3. 3D-Printed Template-Guided Radioactive Seed Implantation:​ Suitable for prostate cancer (especially intermediate- and low-risk patients), primary or metastatic tumors such as liver cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, recurrent head and neck tumors, and soft tissue sarcomas.
4. General Surgery Routinely Performed:​ Minimally invasive surgical procedures for various gastrointestinal tumors, biliary tract diseases, acute abdomen conditions, hernias, and anorectal diseases.

Appointment & Location:​ First Floor, Building 7, Inpatient Department, Heavy Ion Campus, Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital.

We are dedicated to supporting your recovery journey with advanced minimally invasive technologies.