ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S198

Brachytherapy - General

ESTRO 2025

2115

Digital Poster First study on the carbon footprint of UK Brachytherapy Gerry Lowe 1 , Robert Chuter 2 , Peter Bownes 3 , James Cummings 4 , Kate Elliott 5 , Mark Hardy 6 , Neisha Hartfeld 7 , Aaron Huckle 8 , Priya Narga-Martin 1 , Amanda Tate 9 , Sarah Wilby 10 , Samuel Worster 11 1 Physics Department, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, London, United Kingdom. 2 Radiotherapy Physics, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom. 3 Physics Department, St James’s Institute of Oncology, Leeds, United Kingdom. 4 Physics Department, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom. 5 Oncology Physics, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 6 Physics Department, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom. 7 Physics Department, Cambridge University Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 8 Radiotherapy Physics, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, United Kingdom. 9 Physics Department, Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, United Kingdom. 10 Physics Department, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. 11 Brachytherapy Department, Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust, Norwich, United Kingdom Purpose/Objective: Climate change is acknowledged to be the single biggest threat to human health in our century 1,2 . Healthcare is responsible for 4-5% of the UK’s carbon emissions and the NHS was the first healthcare service to embed net zero into its legislation with the Health and Care Act 2022. This is the first study of the carbon footprint of brachytherapy delivery as practised in the UK.

Material/Methods: Nine UK centres collected data for four brachytherapy pathways: HDR prostate, LDR prostate, HDR cervix and HDR

vaginal vault. Data collected included power use from: - power use from imaging and treatment machines, - time on wards and in operating room, - anaesthetics and, where possible, related medications, - consumables, - waste, and - patient travel.

Emissions from the overall process were quantified by itemising each component, and using relevant conversion coefficient in units of kgCO 2 e (greenhouse gases as an equivalent mass of CO 2 ) emitted per unit of activity derived from BEIS data 3 , and data from Greener NHS 4 . Results were expressed as kgCO 2 e per course of brachytherapy.

Results: