Rationale for combining surgery and radiation therapy

The combination of radiation and surgery is being employed increasingly in preference to radical surgery alone or high radiation dose alone in the treatment of malignant epithelial and mesenchymal neoplasms. The basis for this interest is that the scope of the surgery and/or the radiation dose level are less than if either were employed alone. A reduction in treatment related morbidity, improved cosmetic and functional status, and in some instances a lower local failure rate may be achieved by this approach. The rationale for combining radiation and surgery is that radiation at moderate dose levels is effective in the eradication of microscopic extensions of tumor beyond the clearly obvious mass while the surgery (usually more conservative) removes the principal mass.