Hypoxia and local tumour control. Part 2.

Abstract

The failure so far of the clinical effort to exploit laboratory knowledge as to the importance of hypoxia as a cause for radiation failure may have been the pursuit of this approach in isolation from other causes for radioresistance. In particular a capacity for rapid repopulation may be shown by a tumour showing resistance due to hypoxia. A knowledge of all the factors affecting radiosensitivity is required before the rational testing of hypoxic cell sensitisers can be planned.