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Marie Curie Research Wing for Oncology, The Mount Vernon Centre for Cancer Treatment, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2RN * Cancer Research Campaign, Gray Laboratory, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2RN
This excerpt was created in the absence of an abstract.
In the long history of the clinical application of laboratory knowledge concerned with the radioresistance of hypoxic tumour cells, carbogen (95%O2 + 5%CO2) was employed at an early time. In a randomized controlled trial of carbogen breathing in 254 patients with carcinoma of the upper aero-digestive system, initiated in 1972 and performed under the auspices of the radiation therapy oncology group (RTOG), a small margin of advantage to carbogen breathing in carcinoma of the larynx (total of 42 cases) and hypopharynx (total of 39 cases), which did not reach statistical significance, was reported by Rubin et al (1979). The method fell into disuse and in the 1960s and 1970s the clinical effort was concentrated on hyperbaric oxygen (HBO). Finally there was a move to chemical sensitizing agents.
Recently, using clinically relevant dose-fractionation regimes, it has been shown that both carbogen and 100% oxygen-breathing in mouse tumour models give a remarkable increase in radiosensitivity. The enhancement of radiation effect is greater than that achieved by any other system for sensitization of hypoxic cells in the laboratory, including the use of chemical sensitizers and hyperbaric oxygen (Rojas et al, 1990; Rojas, 1991).
Key Words: Hypoxic cell radiosensitizer • Carbogen • Clinical trial
Received for publication April 2, 1991. Revision received May 22, 1991. Accepted for publication June 13, 1991.
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