[Radical and palliative radiotherapy of tumors of the lung]

Radiotherapy can be used in patients with lung carcinoma as a radical treatment or as a palliative, depending on the clinical stage of malignancy, the histological type involved, and the patient's general status. The Author lists tumors that are amenable to radical radiotherapy (after or without surgery, as long as they meet certain requisites of the TNM classification system: thus microcytoma and bronchial stump recurrency after lobectomy or pneumonectomy), and tumors in which radiotherapy, while admittedly of mere symptomatic value, can yield satisfactory short-term results such as reduction of the tumor mass, resolution of atelectasis, or alleviation of a mediastinal syndrome. The paper concludes with a brief description of contraindications to the radiotherapy of pulmonary malignancy, side effects observed in the course of irradiation, and post-irradiation damages, the latter with special regard to sclerosis.