Preoperative irradiation potentiation with cisplatin: effect on rate of wound infection.

Platinum coordination complexes, such as cisplatin, potentiate the cytotoxicity of irradiation on squamous cell carcinoma and certain other solid tumors. Using a rat oro-cutaneous fistula model, an investigation was carried out to determine whether or not there was a concomitant potentiation with cisplatin of the deleterious effect of preoperative irradiation on the ability of a subsequent wound to handle a bacterial challenge. Auto-contaminated wounds were found to have increased rates of infection at single-dose orthovoltage pretreatments of 1,500 rads or more. Using quantitative bacteriologic techniques, would infection was found to be no more frequent after platinum-enhanced irradiation than after irradiation alone; however, there was the additive effect of weight loss associated with combined cisplatin treatment and irradiation.