6533b831fe1ef96bd1298d28

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Effectiveness of Respiratory Hyperoxia, of Normobaric and of Hyperbaric Oxygen Atmospheres in Improving Tumor Oxygenation

subject

description

A restriction and an inhomogeneous distribution of diffusive and convective oxygen supply is considered the main cause for pronounced radioresistance in solid tumors (Thomlinson and Gray, 1955; Tannock, 1972). One way to alleviate this crucial problem in tumor therapy is the direct enhancement of oxygen delivery to the cancer cells. This can be performed either by the tumor host breathing pure O2 (respiratory hyperoxia, RHO) or by whole body exposure to pure O2 atmospheres at normobaric or hyperbaric pressures (normobaric oxygenation NMO, and hyperbaric oxygenation, HPO, respectively). Numerous investigations have been undertaken both in animals and in man using RHO, NMO, or HPO as an adjuvant in radiation therapy (Suit and Maeda, 1967; Rubin et al., 1969), yet only equivocal results have been obtained with regard to the benefit of such a combination of treatments (Sause and Plenk, 1979).