Science and Education Publishing Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment 1 2 2013 12 05 Treatment Planning and Optimization in High-dose-rate Brachytherapy 42 44 EN Sunilkar Singh Reddy Department of Medicine, Manipal University, India JCRT2013125 10.12691/jcrt-1-2-5 2013 11 18 2013 11 24 2013 12 05 High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is typically used for the treatment of lung, esophagus, breast, bronchus, and prostate cancer as well as gynecological cancers. In HDR brachytherapy, radiation is delivered to the tumor through the catheters placed in or adjacent to the tumor. The primary goal of this article is to provide the overview of current literature regarding the application of HDR planning and optimization techniques. A summary of commonly used optimization technique known as heuristics method (stochastic and deterministic) is also provided.