Intra-operative radiotherapy in soft tissue sarcomas.

We treated 31 soft tissue sarcoma bearing patients with intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) with ages ranging from 26 to 71: first curative intent treatment, 16 patients; and recurrent tumors, 15 patients. The tumor site was the pelvis and the retroperitoneal spaces in 13 patients and the limbs or the trunk in 18 patients. The histological type was: malignant histiocytofibroma, 14 patients; liposarcomas, 10 patients; malignant schwanoma, 1 patient; leiomyosarcoma, 2 patients; hemangiopericytoma, 1 patient; embryonic rhabdomyosarcoma, 2 patients; and synovialosarcoma, 1 patient. All the patients were diagnosed without any distant metastatic evolution at the moment of the treatment. All the patients except one underwent a complete surgical excision without any gross residual disease and received an intraoperative radiation single dose of 10 Gy in one case, 12.5 Gy in one case, 13 Gy in one case, 15 Gy in 17 cases, 18 Gy in three cases, 20 Gy in seven cases and 25 Gy in one case. Thereafter the treatment was completed by a postoperative X-ray dose of 45-50 Gy in 4.5-5 weeks for 16 patients. Local control (LC) was obtained in 27 out of 31 patients (87%), with a minimal follow-up duration of 2 years. Eleven out of 31 patients died: seven with local control (one from an intercurrent disease, six from distant metastasis) and four with local failure inside the IORT fields. Twenty patients are alive with no evolutive disease in 19 cases and with a distant metastasis in one case.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Exclusive radiation therapy in endometrial carcinoma.

PURPOSE: From 1967 to 1986, 250 patients with endometrial carcinoma were treated with exclusive radiation therapy: 178 with a minimal follow-up of 5 years and 146 with a minimal follow-up of 10 years. The mean age was 68 years, ranging from 53 to 82 years, and the median follow-up duration was 8.5 years (minimum of 5 years and maximum of 23 years). METHODS AND MATERIALS: All the patients received an external beam radiation treatment (45 Gy in 4.5 to 5 weeks to the whole pelvis) followed by a utero-vaginal brachytherapy. RESULTS: At 5 years, the overall survival rate was 58.4% and the disease-free survival rate 55%. At 10 years the overall survival rate was 46.5% and the disease-free survival rate was 45.2%. Without considering deaths from intercurrent disease, the overall survival rate was 76.5% and the disease-free survival rate was 65.8% after 5 years, and 68% and 66%, respectively, after 10 years. The causes of failure were: isolated metastasis: 7.3%, local failure: 24.1% (4.5% with and 19.6% without concomittent distant metastasis). The rates of local control and of survival are related to the tumor stage and the tumor grade. CONCLUSION: The results are discussed according to the literature data and show the ability of exclusive radiation treatment to achieve acceptable results and to be a curative alternative for treating endometrial cancer providing that a correct external beam radiation therapy and a suitable brachytherapy are fulfilled.

Endometrial carcinoma: a comparative analysis of the therapeutic results and causes of failure after treatment by radiation combined with surgery or radiation therapy alone.

At the present time endometrial carcinoma is considered to be among the most frequent of gynecological tumors and its incidence is now reaching that of cervix carcinoma. In this paper, we present the results of two series of treatment for endometrial carcinoma, one using the combination of surgery and radiation, the second one using radiation treatment alone. Indeed, due to our recruitment criteria between 1968 and 1978 at the Montpellier Cancer Institute, the proportion of patients treated exclusively by physical agents was more or less equal to those receiving combined treatment. In many cases, either because of the poor condition of the patient, or due to local involvement, irradiation alone was used. The report of the results explain the therapeutic failures and show by means of two sequential series how techniques have been developed. Previously treated patients were excluded (44 cases).

Endometrial cancer: a comparative analysis of the therapeutic results and causes of failure after treatment by radiation combined with surgery or radiation therapy alone.

The present study involved 215 endometrial carcinoma patients. Ninety-nine were treated by combined irradiation and surgery (preoperative external irradiation and intracavitary insertion followed by total hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy). Radiotherapy alone was used with 116 patients i.e. whole pelvis external irradiation and Heyman radium packing (40 patients) or afterloading techniques with Fletcher-Suit-Delclos applicators and cesium (76-patients). The 5-year NED survival rate was 78.7% in the combined therapy group and 44% in the exclusive radiotherapy group. The locoregional recurrence rates were 10% in the combined group and 28% in the exclusive radiotherapy group. These results are discussed in relation to data in the literature and to biases introduced due to patient selection in this nonrandomized study. Five-year survival rates, locoregional recurrence rates and sites of failures are analyzed according to the different treatments. Modifications of the external irradiation and intracavitary techniques allowed us to obtain better results and fewer complications.

[Cancer of the endometrium: analysis of the comparative results and causes of failure in radiosurgical treatment and physical agents alone. 215 cases treated between 1968 and 1978]. / Cancer de l'endomètre: analyse des résultats et des causes d'échecs comparés du traitement radiochirurgical et des agents physiques exclusifs. 215 cas traités entre 1968 et 1978.

Two groups of patients (215 cases) with endometrial cancer were treated between 1968 and 1978 either by a combination of radiotherapy and surgery or by radiotherapy alone. In the first group (99 cases) with a mean age of 59 years, results were very favorable for stage T1 and T2 (49/60, 82%) which confirm other results in the literature. The combination of radiotherapy and surgery comprising external irradiation and intracavitary irradiation prior to total hysterectomy did not appear to increase the number of complications to the urinary or digestive tracts. The second group (116 cases) comprised patients treated exclusively by radiotherapy due to the presence of metastatic disease (74 cases) or excessive local-regional extension (37 cases). The cure rate at 5 years appeared satisfactory for stage T1 (35/54, 65%). The differing results between combined radiotherapy and surgery with methods using radiotherapy alone should be partially corrected to take into account the older average age of the second group (69 years). Failures due to the appearance of metastases were approximately similar in both groups (near 6%); on the other hand, local-regional recurrences were more frequent when radiotherapy alone was used, which accounts for the differing results between the two groups. In the second period (1972 to 1978), the group treated exclusively with radiotherapy benefited from a technique used with cervical cancer: external irradiation followed by intracavitary irradiation with a Fletcher-Suit applicator with results similar to those treated in the first period with intracavitary irradiation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)