Acta radiologica: oncology, radiation, physics, biology最新文献

The results of simple mastectomy and postoperative irradiation of the chest wall and the regional lymph nodes in a series of 256 patients with primary carcinoma of the breast (between 1970 and 1972) were compared with those in a series of 155 patients (from 1963 to 1965) treated with radical mastectomy and postoperative irradiation of the regional lymph nodes. A statistically significant difference (p less than 0.01) was found between the chest wall recurrences in the group of patients with irradiation of the chest wall and the group without. No evidence indicates that routine postoperative irradiation should be harmful. Distant metastases in the 1970--1972 group were less frequent (13%) than in the 1963--1965 group (29%)9 The age-corrected 4-year survival rates for stages I and II were 83 per cent for the 1970--1972 group and 78 for the 1963--1965 group. The age-corrected 10-year survival rates for states I and II were 60 per cent.

Radiation therapy will continue to play a major role in the curative management of patients with mammary carcinoma. For this reason, a comparison was made of the dose distributions and techniques used by several leading institutions in the treatment of the chest wall and internal mammary nodes. The dose distributions within the treatment volumes were similar. However, some unique differences within the treatment volume, as well as in the skin and superficial tissues were found.

An equation is proposed to link the Cumulative Radiation Effect (CRE) scale of radiation damage with the fraction of basal cells surviving after irradiation of skin epithelium. The model assumes an expression for the basal cell survival curve which fits the various hit-target models over the range of doses found in clinical practice. The model is consistent with CRE in the dependence on total treatment dose and fractionation number. A 'first order' analysis using a Gompertzian re-growth of cells also yields reasonable agreement with the CRE equation in time dependence during treatment and during a gap. This model is suitable for acute skin reactions but not necessarily for late effects in connective tissue.

The records of 54 consecutive patients who were irradiated for metastatic disease in the neck from an unknown primary tumor were reviewed. The overall survival results are comparable to those of other reported series. Patients with high or posterior cervical lymph node involvement were irradiated with fields including the nasopharynx and oropharynx. Patients with high neck nodes had a better survival rate than those with low neck nodes. The size of the neck tumors and the local control after treatment also have prognostic significance.

A 'low-dose technique' of obstetric pelvimetry, using rare-earth screens and a reduced ambition level of image quality, yields an estimated absorbed dose to the maternal and foetal gonads of 0.9 and 0.01 mGy, respectively. The resulting risk for 'hereditary ill health' and the risk for induction of leukemia from the absorbed dose to the foetal red bone marrow, have been calculated to be at a very low level.

B16 melanoma was grown in the tail of B6D2F1/BOM mice. Procedures for simultaneous local 60Co irradiation and heat treatment are described. A dose of 4 Gy had no effect on tumour growth; heat treatment at 41.5 degrees C for 200 min had a minor effect, while the combined treatment caused a marked delay in tumor growth. Heat treatment of tumours in the thigh at 41.5 degrees C for 2 hours did not influence the frequency of lung metastases.

The clinical features and the results of treatment in 12 cases of malignant lymphoma of a series of 280 consecutive cases of testicular tumor are reported. The tendency of these neoplasms for bilateral involvement and the association with skin and upper respiratory tract lesions, reported in the literature, were confirmed. Long survival of a few cases after orchidectomy or regional treatment only (2 in the present series) suggests the existence of malignant lymphoma of the testis as a primary condition, although in most cases a lymphomatous involvement of the testis must be considered as a local manifestation of disseminated lymphoma.

A series of 359 patients with carcinoma of the larynx was found to be very close to being representative of the northern part of Jutland, Denmark (north of Kongeåen). No unequivocal change in the disease as regards sex, age, histology, symptoms and signs, and stage of disease could be observed during the period 1963 to 1972. A not statistically significant improvement in the corrected mortality appeared. The level of complications after irradiation and secondary surgery was found to be low. A statistically significant, better prognosis was found for females than for males in the glottic group.

Changes in immunoreactive serum calcitonin were measured in 11 patients with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, before and after surgery, external high-voltage irradiation, 131I therapy, and chemotherapy. Measurement of serum calcitonin concentration was found to be a useful method for evaluating tumour mass and function during treatment. Contrary to previous reports, treatment with 131I resulted in a positive effect on serum calcitonin and diarrhoea, and in one patient with bone metastases these disappeared. No response was found following chemotherapeutic regimes. Calcitonin was found to be more sentitive than palpation, radiography, and scintigraphy for determining the amount of tumour tissue, but a definite correlation between this amount and the concentration of serum calcitonin was not found.

In the 48-month survival analysis of 76 evaluable pyriform sinus carcinoma cases, nodal stage and size played the most significant prognosis-affecting roles. N3 stage and node greater than 3 cm decreased the survival fourfold and threefold, respectively, at statistically significant levels. The difference between the 35 per cent preoperative radiation therapy and 3 per cent radical radiation therapy cumulative 48-mouth survivals was significant at p less than 0.01. Complication rates were 6 per cent with radical radiation, 35 per cent with preoperative radiation and 43 per cent with curative surgery.