Abstract
An applicator for intraluminal afterloading irradiation using 192Iridium thin wires was devised and applied to 17 patients with lung cancer which had endobronchial residual tumor after external radiation therapy. Prescribed therapy was completed in 72 courses except one. No residual cancer was found in the treated airway of any of the 17 patients, but three patients had regrowth of the disease in the extrabronchial, region and/or untreated airway. No particular complication has so far been found during the intraluminal irradiation therapy nor until now, May in 1990. Characteristics of this applicator are:(1) it can be inserted selectively into an upper bronchus or a peripheral one, (2) radiation source can be put at the central part of bronchus to give an uniform dose distribution over the bronchial wall as wings are provided at the top of the applicator that contains the radiation source and serve as a spacer, (3) the soft silicon material of the applicator does not injure the bronchial mucosa. We conclude that this method is very useful for patients with early hilar lung cancer which cannot be subjected to sufficient external radiation therapy because of low pulmonary function or poor performance status.
