INDIAN BRACHYTHERAPY SOCIETY

(Regd No.TNSR Act (1975), S.No.99/2006)
Regd. Office: Barnard Institute of Radiology & Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, chennai-600003, TN

Dear Members,
My August greetings to all!
I am very happy to interact to you all through this message.

Brachytherapy is a method of treatment for cancer in which radioactive sources are inserted within the body tissues. Thanks to Henry Becquerel and Marie Curie for their discovery on Radioactivity and Radium. Brachytherapy is an earlier form of Intensity Modulation Radiation Therapy (IMRT) which has a history of more than 100 years. The city Ranchi, Jharkhand had the distinction of using Radium in 1913 itself and is a birthplace of brachytherapy in India. Radiotherapy by external beam kilo voltage X-rays was started in Kolkata (1920), the first in India followed by Madras Government Institute of Radiology (present Barnard Institute of Radiology), Chennai (1924). India is one of the largest and earlier users of brachytherapy in the World. Hence, a need for a common platform to discuss brachytherapy related sciences was felt, on par with American Brachytherapy Society (ABS).

Indian Brachytherapy Society (IBS) concept was conceived on January 2, 2004 at Chennai, over a meeting of tea at Hotel Asoka. It was attended by a core committee consisting Dr.M.Jagadeesan, Dr.P.S.Meenakshi, Dr.T.Aloysius Raj, Dr.T.K.Padmanabhan, Dr.P.Balasubramaniam, Dr.K.Gopla Reddy, Mr.M.Sivamuthukumar, Dr.P.G.G. Kurup, Dr.K.Thayalan, Dr.S.Xavier, Dr.A.Vasanthan and Dr.M.Baludavid.

IBS was inaugurated by Dr.M.Krishnan Nair, Trivandrum in February 5, 2005 at Hotel GRT grand, Chennai followed by an International seminar on brachytherapy. About 150 delegates attended the event with full enthusiasm. Eminent Faculties Dr.Martin Borg (Australia), Dr.Aloysius Raj (Malaysia), Dr.City R Moorthy (USA), and Dr.R.Ravichandran (Oman) and faculties from India; Dr.R.K.Viyas, Dr.T.Aloysius Raj, Dr.B.S.Rao, Dr.P.Premkumar, Dr.G.K.Rath, Dr.S.K.Srivastava, Dr.Sanjeev Sharma and Dr.Vijay Anand Reddy have delivered talks during the seminar.

I was elected as founder secretary of IBS along with Dr M.Jagadeesan as President, Dr P.Balasubramaniam as Treasurer, Dr.P.S. Meenakshi as Vice-President and Dr.Stephen Arul Raj as Joint Secretary. The elected executive committee includes Dr.R.K.Viyas (Ahemedabad), Dr.Subrata Saha (Kolkatta), Dr.S.K.Srivastava (Mumbai), Dr.P.Premkumar (Hyderabad), Dr.R.C.Doshi (New Delhi), Dr.P.G.G.Kurup (Chennai), Dr.R.Ravichandran (Oman), Dr.Jayaprakash Madhavan (Trivandrum), Dr.Ramesh S Bilimagga (Bangalore), and Dr.A. Vasanthan (Chennai).

The aim of IBS is to project and highlight the importance of this procedure in cancer management. Brachytherapy has gained momentum with the invention of newer radioisotopes. The clinical use of such isotopes are wide with the intention of curing cancer with minimal damage to the neighboring normal tissue. Though many centers are doing good brachytherapy, but it has not being projected to the world and especially students. IBS is offering platforms to promote the above such procedures and their outcome. This is possible by conducting annual conference, workshops and seminars at multiple institutions in India.

Now IBS is a 18 years old organization, migrating from child hood to adult stage. I am fortunate still active in IBS, held positions as secretary, Vice-President and presently president. The growth of IBS have been vibrant based on the facts that life membership has crossed 500, conducted 13 annual conferences and several workshops, owns a brachytherapy journal and published brachytherapy guidelines on Head, Neck, and Gynac cancer. IBS has been recognized through out the world and our society have been invited to the world congress of brachytherapy.

I thank and acknowledge Dr.Umesh Mahant Shetty, Secretary, Treasurer Dr.V.Srinivasan, and all executive members for their continued co-operation and support.

Dr K Thayalan PhD
President, IBS
Adjunct Professor, IIT Madras
Honorary Professor, Anna University, Chennai
Founder & Chairman, Radiological Physics Foundation
Former Consultant Medical Physicist, Dr. Kamakshi Memorial Hospital, Chennai

Resi: 26B, Third Street, Arumugam Nagar, Pallikaranai, Chennai-600100, Email: kthayalan@gmail.com