Preoperative radiotherapy of carcinoma of the stomach and breast

: Sixty-one patients with gastric cancer and thirty-seven with breast cancer who had undergone preoperative radiotherapy were analysed retrospectively for assessment of various radiotherapeutic effects and prognosis. Most of the sixty-one patients with gastric cancer were found to be stage III or more with borderline operable lesions on admission. Of the sixty-one patients, sixteen were evaluated postoperatively to be stage I by histopathological examination. The 3-year survival rate in these sixteen patients was an admirable 60%. Of the thirty-seven patients with breast cancer, the 3-year survival rate among twenty-four in Stage III exceeded 90%. This survival rate is very high in comparison with other reports. For radiotherapy we adopted a less-fractionated irradiation method with a large dose instead of the conventional fractionated one. This irradiation method has not only a direct radiotherapeutic effect, but also produces a favorable effect on the host's immunocompetence. For gastric cancer, twice weekly treatment with 5 Gy and 3 Gy per week, and irradiation twice with 20 Gy and 10 Gy for breast cancer were very suitable preoperative irradiation doses.