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Working with the Curies in their radium research laboratory at the University of Paris, American physicist [[William Duane (physicist)|William Duane]] refined a technique for extracting radon-222 gas from radium sulfate solutions. Solutions containing 1 gram of radium were "milked" to create radon "seeds" of about 20 millicuries each. These "seeds" were distributed throughout Paris for use in an early form of brachytherapy named endocurietherapy. Duane perfected this "milking" technique during his time in Paris and referred to the device as a "radium cow".<ref name=Coursey>{{cite web |last1=Coursey |first1=Bert M. |title=150th Anniversary of the Birth of Marie Curie |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.10.028 |website=www.pdf.sciencedirectassets.com |publisher=National Institute of Standards & Technology |access-date=13 June 2021}}</ref>
Duane returned to the United States in 1913 and worked in a joint role as assistant professor of physics at Harvard and Research Fellow in Physics of the Harvard Cancer Commission.<ref>{{
Interstitial radium therapy was common in the 1930s.<ref name="GEC-ESTRO" />{{rp|Ch. 1}} Gold seeds filled with [[radon]] were used as early as 1942<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1001/archderm.1975.01630180085013 | last1 = Goldstein | first1 = N. | title = Radon seed implants. Residual radioactivity after 33 years | journal = Archives of Dermatology | volume = 111 | issue = 6 | pages = 757–759 | year = 1975 | pmid = 1137421}}</ref> until at least 1958.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Winston|first=P.|title=Carcinoma of the Trachea Treated by Radon Seed Implantation|journal=The Journal of Laryngology & Otology|date=June 1958|volume=72|issue=6|pages=496–499|doi=10.1017/S0022215100054232|pmid=13564019}}</ref> [[Gold]] shells were selected by Gino Failla around 1920 to shield [[beta ray]]s while passing [[gamma ray]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Oak Ridge Associated Universitie|title=Seeds (ca. 1940s - 1960s)|url=http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/brachytherapy/seeds.htm|work=Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Collection|access-date=12 November 2012}}</ref> [[Cobalt]] needles were also used briefly after World War II.<ref name="GEC-ESTRO" />{{rp|Ch. 1}} Radon and cobalt were replaced by radioactive [[tantalum]] and gold, before [[iridium]] rose in prominence.<ref name="GEC-ESTRO" />{{rp|Ch. 1}} First used in 1958, iridium is the most commonly used artificial source for brachytherapy today.<ref name="GEC-ESTRO" />{{rp|Ch. 1}}
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