Small-volume high-dose radiation therapy in carcinoma of the urinary bladder.

The results of high-dose small-volume 60Co teletherapy in a series of 176 patients with carcinoma of the urinary bladder are reported. Five-year survival rates without evidence of disease were 26.9 per cent in stage B, 20.3 per cent in stage C, and 14.3 per cent in stage D. The most common cause of treatment failure was pelvic recurrence, which was observed alone in 58.2 per cent and together with distant metastases in 5.2 per cent of the patients.