Predictive power of the tumor oxygenation status.

We have previously demonstrated with a prospective study in primary cancer of the uterine cervix (clinical size > 2 cm) that tumor hypoxia not only indicates decreased radiocurability but is generally associated with malignant progression of the disease. This finding also holds true for other tumor entities (soft tissue sarcomas, squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck region), for lymph node metastases of head and neck lesions, and for locoregional recurrences of cervical cancers. All data available so far support our thesis that in cervical cancers (and in other solid tumors as well), tumor hypoxia and clinical aggressiveness in terms of resistance to therapy and tumor dissemination, are interrelated.