Thermoradiotherapy of primary breast carcinoma

Abstract

Since 1981, 40 patients with advanced breast carcinoma have been treated with megavoltage radiotherapy combined with hyperthermia. The irradiation dose to the primary tumor was 50 Gy/25 fractions, five fractions per week. Hyperthermia (aim: 44.degree. C/30 min) was applied once a week, 30 minutes after the mid week radiation fraction. Tumor response did not correlate with the chance of long-term local control. The likelihood of 3-year local control was 46 percent and 3-year survival was 52 percent. The local tumor control rate decreased with increasing T stage and was related to non-uniformity of the temperature distribution in the heated volume. It was concluded that (a) the radiation dose should be increased and (b) the temperature uniformity should be improved.