[Radiation therapy of eyelid carcinomas]

Forty patients with histologically verified tumors of the eyelid, partly being pretreated surgically, were irradiated and reexamined. The irradiations were performed with an apparatus for surface therapy using soft rays. The radiation quality was between 55 and 100 kV, the dose between 3000 and 6000 rd. The single doses amounted to 300 or 400 rd. The rate of recurrences after primary irradiation of basaliomas was 5,5%, the rate of recovery 94,5%. The patients who underwent primary operation show a distinctly increased rate of recurrences. The percentage of complications was small, amounting to 8%. Primary irradiation is recommended for the treatment of stages T1 and T2 of eyelid tumors, the percentage of recovery being high and the number of complications small. Advanced stages ought to be treated according to the site and infiltration of the tumor either by the telecaesium apparatus under conditions of semi-deep therapy with use of a lead satellite for protection of the cristalline lens and with following soft-ray therapy, or by primary operation followed by radiation therapy.