Abstract: PRUPOSE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of prosthesis-like applicators with radioactive seeds in treatment of palatal glandular malignancy. METHODS: Eleven patients with palatal glandular malignant tumors were treated with surgical resection and postoperative ¹²⁵I radioactive seed brachytherapy. After resection of the palatal tumors, a prosthesis denture was fabricated for each patient. According to the design of treatment plan system, several ¹²⁵I radioactive seeds were embedded in the tissue surface of the prosthesis at the same time. All the patients were followed-up for 6 to 24 months and the results were evaluated. SPSS 21.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Eleven patients could wear prosthesis-like applicators all the time and neither tumor recurrence nor metastasis were found around the target area during the follow-up period. Furthermore, significant improvement was shown in terms of speech, mastication and facial appearance for all patients after prosthesis-like applicator restorations. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with palatal glandular malignant tumors, prosthesis-like applicators with ¹²⁵I radioactive seed brachytherapy may be effective for preventing recurrence and metastasis of the malignancies and improving the patients' quality of life.

Key words: Radioactive seed, Brachytherapy, Palatal malignant tumor, Prosthesis-like applicator