INITIAL HIGH DOSE IRRADIATION FOR METASTASES CAUSING SPINAL CORD COMPRESSION IN CHILDREN

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This report is too limited to evaluate the full efficacy of this approach to spinal cord compression. However, certain points might be emphasized: (1) Each patient in this small series had a neoplasm that had been demonstrated previously to be sensitive to the effects of irradiation; (2) no patient in this limited report exhibited a significant worsening of his clinical condition and required a decompression laminectomy; and (3) symptoms of moderately advanced spinal cord compression, as noted by a sensory loss and sphincter control loss, were reversible and function was regained. It is our hope that by demonstrating the efficacy of this approach in these few patients,* larger numbers of patients might be evaluated in greater detail, and that both the incidence of reversal of spinal cord compression by radiation therapy might be increased and the need for surgical decompression diminished in patients whose lesions are radioresponsive.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: