It is known to implant in cancer patients, particularly prostate cancer patients, chains, or so-called seeds, made from radiation sources. To this end, single radiation sources are used as well as pre-configured seed chains constructed, for example, by alternating a radiation source and a non-active spacer. Implanting single radiation sources allows the single radiation sources to be positioned individually using suitable means. The inflammatory enlargement of the prostate after implantation, followed by swelling, can cause the radiation sources to migrate or shift its position. A radioactive chain prevents this shift in position because it connects the individual implants to each other.
New medical tests show that adherence to a radiation treatment individually tailored to the patient achieves the best results when treating tumors. To do this, the position of the individual radiation sources must be exactly adjusted to each patient.
WO 2009/005528 discloses a magazine and a device for joining freely configurable seed-spacer chains from a total of five different magazines with adjacent implants. The magazines lead the stacked chain components linearly downwards out of the magazines. However, this configuration is disadvantageous because the increasing number of chain components makes the magazines bulky and unhandy. Furthermore, since the magazines are made of transparent polymer, they are only radiation-proof in their packaging or after insertion into the loading device. For this reason, the magazine content is limited to about 20 radiation sources. As a result, when packaging more chains, the magazines must be changed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,696 B1 describes also linear magazines for the brachytherapy. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,711 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,527 B2, the chain components are arranged one behind the other. However, this also has the disadvantage that the magazines cannot be arranged in a space-saving manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,593 B1 describes an automated round magazine for radiation sources in which different chain components, such as radiation sources and spacers, are placed in different chambers. Thereby the driving and the ejection of the chain components in the magazine are performed electrically. Thus the magazines depend on an external drive and there is no internal driving mechanism. This has the disadvantage that such a magazine cannot be sterilized completely. In addition, the magazine must be replaced when, for example, the supply of spacer holders is spent but the supply of radiation sources is not. As a result, the operator can be exposed to irradiation while changing the magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,696 B1 describes round magazines arranged successively, in which the radiation sources and the spacers are arranged concentrically with respect to the pivot point of the magazines. The magazines are again driven from outside. The implants are not ejected from the magazine but are placed in an opening inside the magazine and are dispatched by using an external wire. As a result, the spacer and the radiation source magazine are connected disadvantageously with each other, so that, constructively, the individual implants of the rear magazine have to be pushed through the magazine in front. However, the manual pushing through the different magazines leads often to jamming of the device which has again to be remedied manually. Manual pushing of chain components through different magazines is known also from U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,195 B1.