Further observations on late radiation necrosis following therapy of skin cancer. The results of fractionation of the total dose.

Abstract

Previously, one of us 1 reported detailed observations made during a study of 55 instances of late radiation necrosis occurring among 935 cases of basal- and squamous-cell cancer of the skin which had received roentgen therapy between 1946 and 1953. The clinical characteristics more fully described in the earlier report were essentially those of erythema, extreme tenderness, and subsequent necrosis and ulceration occurring in a previously intact irradiation scar, anywhere from several months to six years after completion of roentgen therapy. In that series, four treatment schedules had been employed, but in only two of them were the figures suitable for statistical analysis. These schedules are indicated in Table 1. The probability of developing necrosis during each time interval following therapy in patients who had received treatment Scheme A was presented in the earlier paper in tabular and graphic form as calculated by the standard life table technique. Because of