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SPLIT‐COURSE COBALT 60 IRRADIATION FOR TREATMENT OF ADVANCED CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG
Author(s) -
WILKIE LOUIS J.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1970.tb03187.x
Subject(s) - medicine , radiation therapy , lung , surgery , carcinoma , cobalt 60 , irradiation , physics , nuclear physics
A bstract : A survey was made of the cases of lung carcinoma referred to the Radiology Department for cobalt 60 therapy during the first five years after installation of the cobalt unit at Creighton Memorial St. Joseph's Hospital in Omaha. After elimination of 27 cases in which there had been other conjunctive therapy such as surgery, chemotherapy or x‐ray irradiation, there were 85 cases for study. Two cases were lost to follow‐up, so the data pertain to 83 patients (mean age 60, range 30–78). The complete planned course of cobalt 60 irradiation delivered a total dose of 4,000–5,000 r during six to eight weeks, with half the dose given in the first two weeks, followed by a two‐week rest period. Only 39 of the patients were able to complete the planned course of 4,000–5,000 r. The mean length of survival for all the patients was fourteen and a half months after starting therapy. Two patients are still living at seventy‐five and seventy months, and 1 at thirty months. The overall survival rate was 4 per cent, but for the group receiving the full course of therapy it was 7.5 per cent. About three quarters of the 83 patients obtained moderate to marked relief of symptoms. These results are similar to several reported in the literature, and serve to emphasize the benefits of cobalt teletherapy in otherwise incurable cancers of the lung.