Twice-a-day radiation therapy for XXXX .

@entity1 @entity189 @entity4685
This is a report of a group of 106 @entity1 with @entity189 treated by the twice-a-day radiation therapy program at the Massachusetts General Hospital from October 1979 through April 1984. The program consisted of 1.6 Gy per fraction, 2 fractions a day, 5 days a week for a total of 64 Gy with 2 weeks rest after the twelfth b.i.d. day. The local control of this group of @entity1 was compared to that of 79 @entity1 treated by the conventional once-a-day program with a daily fraction of 1.8 Gy for a total of 65 Gy, at the same institution during the 4 years immediately prior to the b.i.d. program. The 3 year actuarial local control rate for the entire group following the twice-a-day program was 76% as compared to 50% after the once-a-day program. The difference was significant, p = 0.001. For the T1 and T2 lesions, the corresponding rates were 88 and 63%, respectively, with a p value of 0.029. The rates for T3 and T4 lesions were 66 and 33%, respectively, p = 0.0037. The study indicated that the twice-a-day radiation therapy program as outlined is effective in treatment of @entity189 , and is more markedly effective in advanced lesions. Late radiation effects are minimal and salvage surgery is possible for radiation therapy failures. To date, no @entity1 developed radiation @entity4685 following the b.i.d. program with the dose to the spinal cord limited to 38.4 Gy in 2.5 weeks.
