Biological considerations for treating alternate fields versus all fields daily with high and low LET radiation.

The rationale for treating all fields every day with photons was reviewed. Since the effects of neutron radiation are much less dependent on alterations of fractionation schedules, and since preferential sparing for late effects is not obtained by fractionation of neutron dose, less convincing reasons exist for treating all fields every day with neutrons. Treating one field/day would not alter the physical dose distribution or overall treatment time, yet still maintain biological homogeneity. Preliminary in vitro experiments support this conclusion.