The treatment of advanced juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.

Fifteen patients with juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) were treated in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine between 1973 and 1986. All patients underwent radiographic evaluation including CT scanning, selective digital subtraction angiography, tomograms, or MRI. Patients referred for definitive irradiation exhibited extensive tumor involvement. Eleven of 15 patients had middle cranial fossa involvement; cavernous sinus extension was observed in six patients. Ten patients were treated with primary radiation therapy; five patients had surgical resection initially and were referred for radiation therapy upon local recurrence. Follow-up ranges from 1 1/2-13 years. Four of the 5 patients who received 3200 cGy in 200 cGy fractions demonstrated tumor recurrence within 2 years after irradiation. All recurrences were ultimately controlled by either further irradiation and/or resection. No tumor recurrence was encountered among the patients treated at the higher tumor doses (36-46 Gy). No severe complications have been observed. Radiation therapy utilizing carefully tailored fields is an appropriate therapeutic approach to patients with extensive disease or intracranial extension. A total dose of greater than 40 Gy may allow improved local control for advanced lesions.

The influence of radiation therapy quality control on survival, response and sites of relapse in oat cell carcinoma of the lung: preliminary report of a Southwest Oncology Group study.

Two hundred and ninety-eight patients with limited (confined to chest and supraclavicular area, encompassable by a single radiation portal) small cell carcinoma of the lung were entered on Southwest Oncology Group Protocol 7628. Patients were treated with multi-agent chemotherapy and radiation therapy with or without BCG. Radiation therapy quality control analysis, including dosimetric reconstruction and port film review was introduced after the protocol was activated and was retrospectively applied. Patients who were considered major protocol variations had statistically worse survival (40 weeks versus 60 weeks; P = .002), a lesser improvement in response rate after induction chemotherapy (27 versus 48%; P = .05) and a higher chest failure rate (77 versus 55%; P = .047) than evaluable patients. Five patients relapsed in the brain, all associated with chest failure. Quality control is essential in cooperative group studies.