
palliation by radiotherapy
the purpose of radiotherapy in the management
of cancer of the lung is first to cure the disease;
second, to prolong useful and comfortable exist-
ence; and third, to provide comfort and relief of
suffering to those who are symptomatic and in-
curable.
cancers of the lung vary quite widely in their
response to radiation.  those of glandular origin,
the adenocarcinoma, are more often than not of
modest susceptibility and sometimes quite resis-
tant.  the very undifferentiated, the so-called oat-
cell cancers, are often of exquisite sensitivity, re-
sponding to irradiation almost like lymphomas.
most cancer of the lung, however, is squamous-cell
carcinoma and as such may be considered to be
moderately radiosensitive in much the same order
of magnitude as squamous-cell carcinoma of the
skin, cervix or larynx, and should, in theory, be
curable by this means in the same degree.  unfor-
tunately, this has to date not been found to be
true.  the reasons are principally two: first and
foremost, by the time a diagnosis is made, cancer
of the lung has more often than not, estimated at
80% and more, spread beyond the site of origin,
thus making cure by any effective means presently
available unlikely.  second, the substrate in which
the cancer grows, the lung, tolerates radiation less
well than do the tissues which surround the highly
radiocurable epithelial cancers such as carcinoma of
the skin, cervix, and larynx, thus making an un-
favorable therapeutic ratio.
