Unresectable colorectal-carcinoma - 10 years experience with patients treated with radical or palliative external-beam radiotherapy in Greece.

Our analysis presents a group of 86 patients with unresectable colorectal cancer who were treated with radical or palliative external beam radiotherapy from 1979-1990 at the Radiation Oncology Department of Greek Anticancer Institute, St. Savvas Hospital, Athens. The dose applied to the tumor area was 20-50 Gy in 2-6 weeks. A CAT-scan guided boost field portal to the primary tumor bed and immediately adjacent nodes was also used. Irradiation was given with a Co-60 unit or a 6 MeV Linear Accelerator using a two, three or 4-field technique. Complete symptomatic relief was achieved in 90% of patients with rectal bleeding, 63% with pain and 37% with mucous discharge. Although the majority of our patients received a higher than 40Gy radiation dose, we have seen symptomatic relief in up to 90% of patients treated with 20-30 Gy in 2-3 weeks. However, the duration of improvement in symptomatic relief of our patients was better for those who had been given higher doses of radiation therapy. The radiation dose was sufficient to relieve symptoms in 40 patients (46.5%) for more than 12 months and in 20 patients (23.2%) for 8-12 months.