Adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy in carcinoma of the rectum and rectosigmoid.

Local recurrence occurs in 30% to 50% of rectal cancer patients treated with surgery alone if there is tumor extension beyond the bowel wall alone or in conjunction with nodal involvement. This analysis is of 97 such patients who received postoperative irradiation (XRT) in prospective and standardized fashion at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) (4500 rad in 25 fractions to large fields and minimum dose of 5040 rad in 28 fractions within a boost field). Results were compared with a group of 103 previously analyzed patients treated with surgery alone at MGH.

Alcoholic liver disease. Absence of alpha-fetoprotein elevations in the recovery phase.

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) may be detected in patients with nonneoplastic liver diseases such as massive hepatic necrosis, viral hepatitis, and experimental liver injury, AFP levels have not been serially assessed in patients with alcoholic liver disease, with or without cirrhosis, during the period following cessation of alcohol. Thirty-two such patients were studied with weekly AFP determinations, an average of five such measurements being obtained per patient. The severity of alcoholic liver disease in this group varied from mild alcoholic hepatitis to advanced cirrhosis, and overall mortality was 31%.