Don Lawrence and the "k-capture" revolution

Brachytherapy. 2010 Oct-Dec;9(4):373-81. doi: 10.1016/j.brachy.2009.07.014. Epub 2010 Aug 25.

Abstract

Purpose: The practice of brachytherapy was in steep decline in the mid-20th century, largely because of safety issues. This article explores the innovations that revitalized brachytherapy with special attention to the introduction of low-energy seeds for permanent implantation.

Methods and materials: Literature review; interviews; and the memos, records, and correspondence of Donald C. Lawrence.

Results: Paul Harper first proposed the use of radionuclides that decay by k-capture in the 1950s. But it was the vision and tenacity of health physicist Donald Lawrence that led to the successful implementation of I-125 (in the 1960s) and Cs-131 (40 years later).

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article
  • Portrait

MeSH terms

  • Brachytherapy / history*
  • Cesium Radioisotopes / history
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Iodine Radioisotopes / history
  • United States

Substances

  • Cesium Radioisotopes
  • Iodine Radioisotopes

Personal name as subject

  • D Lawrence