Carcinoma of the cervix--anaemia, radiotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen

Further analyses of the material contained in trials of the hyperbaric oxygen chamber in the radiotherapy of carcinoma of the cervix have shown that patients who were severely anaemic prior to radiotherapy, and who required blood transfusion, showed very poor local tumour control when conventionally treated after transfusion, but very good local tumour control when treated in hyperbaric oxygen. The finding of a special sub-group where hypoxia would seem to be an important cause of radiation failure, and where hyperbaric oxygen was successful in overcoming it, may have importance in the evaluation of other methods for overcoming the hypoxia, including the use of chemical sensitising agents.