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The clinical results presented for IORT treatment are taken from data published in medical journals or presented at medical and scientific meetings. IORT is always given as part of a comprehensive treatment approach that may also involve additional pre-operative or post-operative radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The appropriate additional therapy that might be required depends on the stage and extent of the disease and is a medical decision that should be made in consultation with a physician. Go here for a printable version of this page.
Head and neck cancers consist of a wide range of malignancies originating in the oral cavity, larynx and pharynx. The standard treatments for advanced head and neck cancers include surgery, often combined with external irradiation, or external irradiation, sometimes combined with chemotherapy [1,2]. Because advanced disease can be difficult to remove completely by surgery, and because extensive surgical resection might produce severe physical deformities, radiation therapy is often selected as the primary treatment modality. The recurrence and survival rates for head and neck tumors, however, remain disappointing [3]. IORT is of great potential benefit in the management of both primary and recurrent head and neck cancers. When compared with standard therapies, the addition of IORT to the treatment increases local-regional control and survival without increasing the rate of unacceptable complications [3].
"Intraoperative Irradiation, Techniques and Results", 1999, p.481
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