Soft x-ray therapy for cutaneous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
BACKGROUND
We have used a schedule for soft x-ray therapy of epithelial malignancies that takes into account the clinically diagnosed tumor involution under treatment.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this schedule in terms of cure rate and late ulcerations.


METHODS
Patients with 1267 consecutively irradiated (1988-1992) basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas were followed up (average 77 months).


RESULTS
The recurrence rate (5.1%) was related to tumor size and thickness and to the time-dose-fractionation factor. The frequency of ulcerations (6.3%) depended on field size, hardness of the x-rays, and in smaller fields (diameter up to 4 cm) on total dose, and time-dose-fractionation factor. Of all ulcerations, 82.5 % could be conservatively cured.


CONCLUSIONS
We have no evidence that our radiation schedule is superior to those published by other authors.


CONCLUSIONS
These results verify the usefulness of soft x-ray therapy for cutaneous epithelial malignancies.
Schulte
Klaus-Werner
KW
Lippold
Andrea
A
Auras
Christine
C
Bramkamp
Gernot
G
Breitkopf
Claudia
C
Elsmann
Heinz-Joachim
HJ
Habenicht
Eva Maria
EM
Jasnoch
Volker
V
Müller-Pannes
Helga
H
Rupprecht
Rainer
R
Suter
Ludwig
L
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*