Radon needles

Radon is still produced for therapeutic use by a few hospitals by pumping it from a radium source and sealing it in minute tubes, called seeds or needles, for application to patient. This... 

Radium. The radium source used in brachytherapy uses mostly radium sulfate or radium chloride mixed with an inert filler and loaded into cells about 1 cm long and 1 mm in diameter. These cells are made of 0.1- to 0.2- mm-thick gold foil. Radium sources are manufactured as needles or tubes in a variety of lengths and activities. Leakage of radon gas from a radium source represents a significant hazard if the source is broken. The sources are, however, doubly encapsulated to prevent such an occurrence. Cesium-137 has replaced radium, at least in the US. 

Radon has been produced commercially for use in radiation therapy but for the most part has been replaced by radionuclides made in accelerators and nuclear reactors. Radiopharmaceutical companies and a few hospitals pump the radon from a radium source into tubes called "seeds" or "needles" which may be implanted in patients (Cohen 1979). Research laboratories and universities produce radon for experimental studies. 

Mastelic J, Milos M, Kustrak D, Radonic A (2000) Essential oil and glycosidically bound volatile cennpounds from the needles of common juniper Juniperus communis L.). Croat Chem Acta 73 585-593... 

From experimental beginnings, radiation therapy soon developed into a separate branch of medicine, with its own specialists, practices, and standards. X-rays had to be applied from an external machine, but radium could be introduced right into the patient. This approach, known as brachytherapy, was pioneered early in the century. The radium was put in gold needles that were inserted into cancerous tissue, in tubes that were placed in body cavities, or in moulds applied to the outside of the body. During tumour surgery, doctors permanently implanted gold capsules, or seeds, filled with short-lived radon to help kill residual cancerous cells. 

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