Introduction: Among different kinds of oral cavity cancers, the frequency of tongue cancer occurrence is more significant. Brachytherapy is the most common method to cure tongue cancers. Long sources are used in different techniques of tongue brachytherapy. The objective of this study is to asses the dose distribution around long sources, comparing different radioisotopes as brachytherapy sources, measuring the homogeneity of delivered dose to treatment volume and also comparing mandible dose and dose of tongue in the regions near the mandible with and without using shield.
Material and Method: The Monte Carlo code MCNP4C was used for simulation. The accuracy of simulation was verified by comparing the results with experimental data. The sources like Ir-192, Cs-137, Ra-226, Au-198, In-111 and Ba-131 were simulated and the position of sources was determined by Paris system.
Results: The percentage of mandible dose reduction with use of 2 mm Pb shield for the sources mentioned above were: 35.4%, 20.1%, 86.6%, 32.24%, 75.6%, and 36.8%. The tongue dose near the mandible with use of shied did not change significantly. The dose homogeneity from the most to least was obtained from these sources: Cs-137, Au-198, Ir-192, Ba-131, In-111 and Ra-226.
Discussion and Conclusion: Ir-192 and Cs-137 were the best sources for tongue brachytherapy treatment but In-111 and Ra-226 were not suitable choices for tongue brachytherapy. The sources like Au-198 and Ba-131 had rather the same performance as Ir-192