Thermoradiotherapy of primary breast carcinoma

Since 1981, 40 patients with advanced breast carcinoma have been treated with megavoltage radiotherapy combined with hyperthermia. The irradiation dose to the primary tumour was 50 Gy/25 fractions, five fractions per week. Hyperthermia (aim: 44 degrees C/30 min) was applied once a week, 30 minutes after the midweek radiation fraction. Tumour response did not correlate with the chance of long-term local control. The likelihood of 3-year local control was 46 per cent and 3-year survival was 52 per cent. The local tumour control rate decreased with increasing T stage and was related to non-uniformity of the temperature distribution in the heated volume. It was concluded that (a) the radiation dose should be increased and (b) the temperature uniformity should be improved.