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An evaluation of postoperative radiotherapy in hypernephroma treatment—A clinical trial
Author(s) -
Finney R.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197312)32:6<1332::aid-cncr2820320607>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - medicine , radiation therapy , grading (engineering) , surgery , incidence (geometry) , radiology , civil engineering , physics , optics , engineering
A controlled trial was planned in order to assess the value of postoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of hypernephromata. Crude survival figures, covering 3–12 years following treatment, revealed that those cases treated by surgery only did better than those treated by combined surgery and irradiation, although the results are not statistically significant. Analysis over the first 5 years revealed that the greatest differences in survival between the 2 groups occurred in the first 12 months postoperatively. Radiotherapy did not influence the incidence of local recurrence or distant metastases. However, a considerable number of cases receiving radiotherapy died from co‐incidental causes including radiation liver damage. Those tumors with histologic evidence of venous involvement showed no improvement in survival despite radiotherapy. Other factors associated with tumor prognosis—grade, capsular involvement, and node metastases—demonstrated no advantage in terms of survival for cases having radiotherapy. No correlation could be obtained between histologic grading and prognosis in a small number of cases. Definite evidence of liver damage was obtained in patients with right‐sided lesions as a result of radiotherapy and assessed by biochemical liver function tests and isotope scans. No difference between the 2 sides was noted in relation to side effects during treatment.