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Biomedical subjects

R H Sagerman

Publications and source records attributed to R H Sagerman.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

High dose preoperative irradiation for advanced laryngeal-hypopharyngeal cancer.

Combined therapy, consisting of 5000 rads delivered in five weeks by total laryngectomy +/- radical neck dissection, was compared with treatment by irradiation (6000-7000 rads) with surgical salvage when clinically possible for radiation failure. Patients were categorized according to site of primary cancer (glottic, supraglottic and pyriform sinus) and staged (T, N, M). Survival was equally good in the two programs for glottic and supraglottic lesions, N0 or N1. The combined treatment program was judged superior for supraglottic and pyriform sinus lesions, N2 or N3.

Adult↗

Carcinoma of the anterior tongue.

We have reviewed 126 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the anterior tongue. Our experience suggests that carcinoma of the anterior tongue is a highly aggressive disease. It is no less aggressive and dangerous than carcinoma of the posterior tongue. The clinically negative neck is a problem. Many clinical stage I and II cancers are, in fact, stage III when analyzed by the pathologist. This difficulty in clinical staging results in a significant management problem when stage III carcinomas are treated as stage I and stage II disease. Management, if it is to cure, must be aggressive. An adequate, wide surgical resection will control early carcinoma of the anterior tongue. Advanced cancers of the anterior tongue, clinical stages III and IV, should be widely excised; the cervical lymph nodes on the side of the primary lesion must be treated by surgery and radiation therapy. Treatment of the opposite side of the neck is indicated based on a high rate of metastases to contralateral lymph nodes in this series. Those patients treated with irradiation who had recurrence did so predominantly at the primary site of disease. Patients treated surgically tended to have recurrence in the regional cervical lymphatics.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗

Interruption of combined therapy: a factor in decreased survival.

Occasionally, during the course of combined (radiation plus surgery) treatment of head and neck malignancies, the patient experiences a profound response to radiotherapy alone and elects to decline the second phase of treatment, namely, surgery. After a variable interval, radiotherapy is reinstituted to a "curative" level. A series of 14 laryngeal and oropharyngeal carcinomas, treated in this disjointed fashion, has been examined with respect to long-term survival. The prognosis is extremely unfavorable, thus supporting a basic philosophy of continuing with the prescribed surgical treatment despite a dramatic response to noncancericidal doses of radiotherapy. The site and stage of tumor, radiation dosage, interval to completion of therapy, and incidence of local and distant metastases are examined. It appears that every effort should be made to provide continuity in the combined therapeutic protocol if the advantages of this mode of therapy are to be effective.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗