[Results of radiation therapy in chordoma: data from seven patients and a review of the literature (author's transl)].

Seven patients with chordoma who were treated in the Universitätsklinik für Nuklearmedizin und Radiotherapie, Zürich, since 1950 are presented. In all the cases, high-dose irradiation resulted in symptom-free survival of many years duration. Five years after the first treatment, all the patients are alive, after ten years about 50% of the patients are alive. Our own experiences as well as the already published cases show that radiotherapy has an important role in the management of chordoma.