Oxygen tension and prediction of the radiation response. Polarographic study in human breast cancer.

Serial polarographic measurement of the tissue oxygen tension (pO2) was made in the course of fractionated irradiation (preoperative or sole treatment) of advanced breast cancer in 24 patients. In responsive tumors increase in pO2 appeared sooner before expressive tumor size reduction became noticeable. Repeated recording of unchanged pO2 values has proved to be a good prognostic indicator of local failure. The study made on this tumor model has shown that serial polarographic pO2 determinations with suitable electrodes causing minimal trauma and providing consistent and reproductive data about changes in tumor microcirculation and oxygenation, may enlarge the scale of indicators of the radiation response.