Background: We simultaneously administered continuous intravenous injection of low-dose cisplatin (CDDP) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with radiation to treat patients with esophageal or lung cancer. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the grade of hemotoxicity and the area of the irradiation field in these patients.
Materials and methods: Between March 1993 and December 1998, 21 patients with esophageal cancer and 12 with lung cancer, who had undergone this combined therapy, were analyzed with regards to several factors, including age, radiation dose, the size of the irradiation field and dose of CDDP administered.
Results: The area of the irradiation field was significantly larger in patients with esophageal cancer (p = 0.0079), whilst with regards to hemotoxicity, both the white blood cell count (WBC) and the platelet count were significantly reduced in patients with esophageal cancer (p = 0.0047 and p = 0.0407, respectively).
Conclusion: The size of the irradiation field is related to the grade of hemotoxicity when chemo-radiotherapy is simultaneously administered.