OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic results of intraluminal irradiation were analyzed in 64 patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer (ROLC). METHODS: The subjects were 64 patients who underwent intraluminal irradiation between 1987 and 2003. Radiotherapy was performed by combining external irradiation with intraluminal irradiation using low-dose-rate iridium (four 370-MBq wires) through a catheter with a spacer. The doses of radiation were 0-70 Gy (median value 46 Gy) by external irradiation and 10-60 Gy (median value 29.3 Gy) by intraluminal irradiation. RESULTS: The therapeutic effect was CR in 63 patients and PR in 1 patient, and local recurrence was observed in a PR case and in seven of the 63 patients who showed CR. The 5-year overall and relapse-free survival rates were 56 (95% CI, 43-69%) and 55% (95% CI, 43-68%), respectively. Fatal pulmonary hemorrhage was observed in one case. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the facts that ROLC often occurs as multiple cancers and that many patients with ROLC have reduced lung function, radiation therapy by a combination of intraluminal and external irradiation may replace surgery as the first choice for the treatment of this disease.
OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic results of intraluminal irradiation were analyzed in 64 patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer (ROLC). METHODS: The subjects were 64 patients who underwent intraluminal irradiation between 1987 and 2003. Radiotherapy was performed by combining external irradiation with intraluminal irradiation using low-dose-rate iridium (four 370-MBq wires) through a catheter with a spacer. The doses of radiation were 0-70 Gy (median value 46 Gy) by external irradiation and 10-60 Gy (median value 29.3 Gy) by intraluminal irradiation. RESULTS: The therapeutic effect was CR in 63 patients and PR in 1 patient, and local recurrence was observed in a PR case and in seven of the 63 patients who showed CR. The 5-year overall and relapse-free survival rates were 56 (95% CI, 43-69%) and 55% (95% CI, 43-68%), respectively. Fatal pulmonary hemorrhage was observed in one case. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the facts that ROLC often occurs as multiple cancers and that many patients with ROLC have reduced lung function, radiation therapy by a combination of intraluminal and external irradiation may replace surgery as the first choice for the treatment of this disease.