RICHLAND, WA: IsoRay, a producer of Cesium-131 brachy therapy seeds, and medical isotope applications has announced the addition of a new study at Thomas Jefferson University, a national institution in the cancer therapy field.

The study deals with the treatment of head and neck cancer patients who will be treated with IsoRay's Cesium-131 internal radiation (brachytherapy) cancer seeds. After the surgery is done, the therapy allows the localized Cesium-131 (Cs-131) radioactive seeds placed directly in the tumor bed which helps the patients to recover fast as it involves low radiation and they are also freed from taking long term precautions.

"Cs-131 is a favorable isotope for use across a wide range of tumors and its dose distribution properties facilitate easy calculation and use in the clinic and a decrease in the exposure to radiation oncologists, staff and patient families," says Voichita Bar Ad, MD, the lead radiation oncologist of the study.

For patients with recurrence of head and neck cancers, the university has combined Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery and Radiation Oncology departments to treat patients in a better manner. IsoRay's Cesium-131 seeds, sutured seeds, stranded mesh and the GliaSite radiation therapy system, give physicians the ability to directly place a specified dosage of radiation in areas where cancer is most likely to remain after completion of a tumor removal or by placing seeds within the prostate. IsoRay's cancer fighting products diminish the ability of the tumor to recur, resulting in important benefits for patients in longevity as well as quality of life.

"Cancers that recur in the head and neck pose major problems. They have shown a resistance to the standard therapies of surgery and conventional radiation, leading to significant and life-altering complications,” says Dwight Babcock, Chairman and CEO, IsoRay.