A systematic overview of radiation therapy effects in XXXX .

@entity5 @entity1 @entity11 @entity1313
A systematic review of radiation therapy trials in several @entity5 types was performed by The Swedish Council of Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU). The procedures for evaluation of the scientific literature are described separately (Acta Oncol 2003; 42: 357-365). This synthesis of the literature on radiation therapy for @entity1313 is based on data from 9 randomized trials and 1 meta-analysis. Moreover, data from 2 prospective studies, 3 retrospective studies and 4 other articles were used. In total, 19 scientific articles are included, involving 4,266 @entity1 . The results were compared with those of a similar overview from 1996 including 11,252 @entity1 . The conclusions reached can be summarized as follows: The conclusion from SBU 129/2 that curative treatment is not available for @entity1 with high-grade @entity11 (grade III and IV) is still valid. The survival benefit from postoperative radiotherapy compared to supportive care only or chemotherapy is about 3-4 months, as demonstrated in earlier randomized studies. Quality of life is now currently estimated and considered to be of major importance when reporting the outcome of treatment for @entity1 with @entity1313 . There is no scientific evidence that radiotherapy using hyper- and hypofractionation leads to longer survival for @entity1 with high-grade @entity11 than conventional radiotherapy. There is large documentation, but only one randomized study. There is some documentation to support the view that @entity1 with grade IV @entity11 and poor prognosis can be treated with hypofractionation and with an outcome similar to that after conventional fractionation. A shorter treatment time should be convenient for the @entity1 . Documentation of the benefit of a radiotherapy boost with brachytherapy is limited and no conclusion can be drawn. There is no scientific evidence that radiotherapy prolongs life for @entity1 with @entity11 . There are some data supporting that radiotherapy can be used to treat symptoms in @entity1 with @entity11 . As no controlled studies have been reported, no firm conclusion can be drawn.
