An interim assessment of the experience of fast neutron boost in inoperable rectal carcinomas in Orléans.

Since January 1981, 58 patients with postoperative recurrences or inoperable rectal cancer have been included in a trial featuring a neutron boost after an initial series of irradiation given by the classical high energy photon procedure. This group irradiated at the Neutrontherapy Unit in Orléans was compared to a historical series of 52 patients treated by X-rays only at the Tumor Treatment Center of the Hôpital Tenon in Paris. The immediate local control rate for the neutron group was higher than that obtained by irradiation with photon alone (23/31 vs 14/50). Immediate tolerance was generally satisfactory in both groups. The two survival curves are practically identical.