[Intraluminal irradiation with iridium 192--a new method for the treatment of inoperable esophageal cancers?]

In inoperable esophageal carcinoma the intraluminal high dose afterloading therapy with Iridium 192 was employed as an alternative to the palliative resection. Prerequisite for this treatment, which was used in 19 patients during the last year, is the preceding passage restoration of the tumor stenosis by endoscopic laser therapy. Every two weeks the patients are endocavitarily irradiated up to 3 times with a dose of 7 Gy. Observing the patients by endoscopic means the implantation of a tubus is avoidable achieving better quality of life and comparable survival times.