Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S J Alderman.
Afterloading techniques, low energy radium substitutes, and computer assisted dosimetry can be adapted to surface applicator mold therapy. This permits high total dose, low dose rate radiotherapy to be applied to sharply delimited volumes, while restricting exposure of involved personnel.
Complex radiotherapeutic techniques are occasionally required in the management of certain cutaneous malignancies. This report cites two clinical conditions and their circumstances for which techniques were applicable, and illustrates the results obtained.
Treatment of carcinoma of the lung to cure or even to prolong survival time to a satisfactory degree is not yet a reality. For squamous cell carcinoma confined to the lung, radical surgery offers the best possibility of cure. When surgery is not feasible in such a case for other than technical reasons (eg, poor general condition of the patient), radical (megavoltage) radiotherapy offers a good possibility of cure. For anaplastic or oat cell carcinoma confined to the lung, cure by surgery or radiotherapy is less likely and there is little advantage of one or the other of these modalities. Once metastasis has occurred, surgery is largely precluded and radiotherapy becomes a measure of last resort that offers a good possibility of relief of distressing symptoms and some hope of prolonging worthwhile life.
The addition of intraperitoneal colloidal radioactive chromic phosphorus following total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and omentectomy in women with Stage I ovarian cancer does not cause significant morbidity. Moreover, our preliminary results suggest that this regimen appears to increase the rate of local control of disease. In 21 unselected patients, there was 1 incident of small bowel obstruction. Fourteen of these patients have been followed for at least 1 1/2 years; all are alive without evidence of disease. These facts suggest that a national prospective study to investigate the efficacy of this treatment for Stage I ovarian cancer is warranted.
Combined teletherapy and interstitial iridium 192 implantation can control locally advanced breast cancer in a consistent fashion without causing significant morbidity. Moreover, in the absence of clinically evident distant metastases, patients who undergo this treatment can survive comfortably for long periods of time. Among 11 patients followed for at least 1 1/2 years, nine are alive without evidence of disease, one is living with distant metastases, and one patient is dead. There has been no local recurrence in the 18 patients included in this report.
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