This Article  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

MARSHALL STROME, MD
Boston

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1987;113(8):811.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

At the meeting of the Triological Society's Eastern Section, Ralph Metson, MD, Boston, assessed the surgical complications of twice a day vs daily radiation therapy. Twenty-four patients in the twice-a-day group were compared retrospectively with 37 patients in the daily group. The authors found no statistical difference in major complications. The incidence of minor complications, ie, wound infection, was almost threefold greater in the twice-a-day group. The number of blood transfusions and the length of hospital stay were significantly increased in the twice-a-day group as well. The authors concluded that the increases noted in surgical morbidity were warranted if, ultimately, there was an increase in survival with the twice-a-day technique.

Comment.—What about therapeutic morbidity? During treatment, mucositis, pharyngeal irritation, and the cutaneous reaction are all increased. Unequal patient numbers in the two therapeutic groups make comparisons difficult. Having operated on patients from the treating institution who received therapy twice . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?