[en] This book discusses carcinomas of the oral cavity including the lymph nodes and salivary glands. Topics include; Epidemiology and etiology; Immunolgical and virological aspects; Basic principles of management; Surgery; Radiotherapy; Chemotherapy; and Cryosurgery

[en] An outline review of the use of radiosensitizers is presented. The following topics are discussed: therapeutic index (acute and late effects, oxygenation, including the use of hypabaric oxygen) menadiol, nitroimidazoles, cytotoxic drugs, halogenated pyrimidines, razoxane, platinum. (U.K.)

[en] In oral cancer radiotherapy may be used as the sole treatment, or in combination with other modalities of treatment. Irradiation which aims at cure is termed radical radiotherapy. Here the object is local control, i.e. the elimination of tumour from the irradiated site, which requires the killing of all those tumour cells with unlimited capacity for cell division, while at the same time leaving sufficient normal cells viable in the adjacent tissues to maintain the integrity of these tissues. The possibility of achieving this depends on the properties of both tumour and normal tissue

[en] The importance of choice of treatment in collaborative joint consultation clinics is emphasised for the management of head and neck cancer (malignant tumours arising in all parts of the head and neck except for the skin and central nervous system). Radiation techniques for tumours of the following areas are discussed: neck lymph nodes, lip, tongue, mouth floor, buccal mucosa, alveolus, retromolar trigone, anterior faucial pillar, oropharynx nasopharynx, juvenile angiofibroma, ear, glomus jugulare, maxillary antrum, nasal fossa, larynx, epiglottis, eyes, hypopharynx, salivary glands. Substantial bibliography. (U.K.)

[en] Recently published overviews of randomized controlled trials of simultaneous chemotherapy with radiotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have demonstrated a significant survival advantage from the combined treatment compared with radiotherapy alone. However, they also showed that chemotherapy increased acute radiation morbidity, but there was no information on late effects. The 19 publications of trials of simultaneous chemotherapy contained in the over-view by Munro were reviewed for morbidity data. It was found that chemotherapy significantly enhanced both acute and late effects, suggesting that the drugs may be merely dose-modifying. Future trials should be designed to determine whether or not chemotherapy improves the therapeutic ratio. (author)

No abstract available

[en] A random controlled trial was performed to compare long and short fractionation of radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer with a poor prognosis. Ninety-eight matched pairs were treated, one member of each pair receiving 10 fractions in 22 days, the other 30 fractions in 42 days. The same nominal standard dosages were used in each arm of the trial. Mucosal reactions were more severe with 10 fractions, skin reactions more severe with 30 fractions. No difference in survival, local tumour control rates or late normal tissue effects could be demonstrated. It is suggested that any possible therapeutic advantage of prolonged fractionation is minimal and that it is justified to use a small number of large fractions in clinical trials involving hyperbaric oxygen in electronic-affinic sensitizers. (author)

[en] Forty-two patients with lacrimal gland tumours were treated with radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital between 1950 and 1982. Thirty-three patients with malignant tumours had a median cause-specific survival of 10.4 years. The tumour control following radiotherapy was related to histology, extent of initial surgery, and radiotherapy dose. Those patients with adenocarcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma and malignant mixed tumour, who had complete surgical excision and adjuvant radiotherapy all remained disease-free; after incomplete excision, radical radiotherapy achieved local control in only one of 13. In contrast, in patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma, 7 of 13 (54%) with residual local disease remain disease-free after radical radiotherapy. The complication rate of radiotherapy was low; 79% of patients who remained disease-free with an intact eye retained good vision. 10 refs.; 1 figure; 10 tabs

[en] A controlled clinical trial is in progress to assess the value of hyperbaric oxygen and radiotherapy in the management of head and neck cancer. An established dose-fractionation schedule in hyperbaric oxygen is being compared with a widely used conventional schedule in air. Survival and local recurrence-free rates are significantly higher in the oxygen group, and the effects on normal tissues are similar in both groups. These findings suggest a genuine therapeutic advantage. There was a distinct improvement in the results of treating advanced laryngeal carcinoma, where there was a high survival rate, without resort to laryngectomy. (author)

[en] Bone scans using technetium phosphate complexes were performed on 874 patients with breast cancer referred to the South Wales Radiotherapy Centre between January 1973 and December 1976. Most of the patients also had radiological skeletal surveys performed within one month of the scan. Scans proved to be more reliable and sensitive than X-rays for detection of bone metastases. 20% of all patients with clinically localised disease had positive scans, bone metastases were confirmed within two years in four-fifths of the patients with positive scans and negative X-rays. It is suggested that a patient with an abnormal scan should not receive radical local treatment. (author)