Oxygen tension and prediction of the radiation response. Polarographic study in human breast cancer.

Serial polarographic measurement of the tissue oxygen tension (pO2) was made in the course of fractionated irradiation (preoperative or sole treatment) of advanced breast cancer in 24 patients. In responsive tumors increase in pO2 appeared sooner before expressive tumor size reduction became noticeable. Repeated recording of unchanged pO2 values has proved to be a good prognostic indicator of local failure.

Vascularization and radiocurability in cancer of the uterine cervix. A retrospective study.

The proportion of vascular elements in relation to the parenchymal and stromal components was determined by morphometric analysis of the histologic preparations from biopsies of uterine cervix cancers. In all cases, the material was obtained from tumors in Stages Ib and IIa before any therapy was initiated. In the 23 cases in which radiation treatment of the lesions resulted in a survival longer than 5 years, the proportion of blood vessels in the neoplastic tissue was found to be larger, and especially the stromal components were richer in vascular elements than in the 22 cases in which survival was shorter than 5 years.

Radiation-induced changes in cell proliferation kinetics in uterine cervix cancer.

In vitro double labeling autoradiography for measuring the labeling index, duration of S phase and potential doubling time has been used to assess the effect of a single and fractionated test dose of irradiation in uterine cervix cancer applied in 21 patients. Tumor-labeling index fell significantly in those tumors which had a high labeling index before irradiation, and these cases were found later to exhibit a good radiation response. Duration of S phase which ranged between 9 and 27 hours prior to irradiation was increased.