Radiotherapy for lacrimal gland tumours

Forty-two patients with lacrimal gland tumours were treated with radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital between 1950 and 1982. Thirty-three patients with malignant tumours had a median cause-specific survival of 10.4 years. The tumour control following radiotherapy was related to histology, extent of initial surgery, and radiotherapy dose. Those patients with adenocarcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma and malignant mixed tumour, who had complete surgical excision and adjuvant radiotherapy all remained disease-free; after incomplete excision, radical radiotherapy achieved local control in only one of 13. In contrast, in patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma 7 or 13 (54%) with residual local disease remain disease-free after radical radiotherapy. The complication rate of radiotherapy was low; 79% of patients who remained disease-free with an intact eye retained good vision.