RESUMO
AIM OF THE STUDY: Aim of the study is to evaluate the results of postoperative radiotherapy of paragangliomas, prognostic factors and causes of treatment failure. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-four patients (39 females and 5 males) aged 20 to 74 years were treated for paraganglioma between 1970 and 2010 at the Centre of Oncology in Kraków. Patient survival probability was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard model were used in univariate and multivariate analysis, respectively. RESULTS: The most common locations of paragangliomas were the following: the ear, carotid body and internal jugular vein bulb. Forty (91%) out of them were benign and 4 - malignant. All patients underwent surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. The delivered dose ranged from 50 to 72 Gy, the mean dose was 60 Gy. Five-year overall survival was 84%. Five-year relapse-free survival was 84%, either. The multivariate analysis has shown that the dose in an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival. The univariate analysis has shown significantly higher 5-year overall survival in patients who received a dose of 60 Gy or higher - 92% vs. 70% in patients who received a dose lower than 60 Gy. CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative radiotherapy with doses higher than 60 Gy in patients with paragangliomas is associated with longer overall survival.
RESUMO
In a retrospective analysis of 150 incompletely resected NSCLC patients treated with adjuvant external beam radiotherapy 32 (21.3%) survived 3 years with no symptoms of disease. Ipsilateral mediastinal/hilar lymph node involvement and macroscopic incomplete surgery were the prognostic factors that unfavourably influenced survival in Cox's proportional hazards model. Postoperative external beam radiotherapy was the efficient adjuvant treatment method in microscopically incompletely resected NSCLC, predominantly with no nodes involvement, but had no benefit in those with macroscopic incomplete surgery.
