Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Sections
    • Collections
  • Podcasts
  • Author Info
    • Overview for authors
    • Publication fees
    • Forms
    • Editorial policies
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Open access
  • Careers
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • About
    • General information
    • Staff
    • Editorial Board
    • Contact
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ
    • CMAJ Open
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CJS
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ
    • CMAJ Open
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CJS

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Sections
    • Collections
  • Podcasts
  • Author Info
    • Overview for authors
    • Publication fees
    • Forms
    • Editorial policies
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Open access
  • Careers
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • About
    • General information
    • Staff
    • Editorial Board
    • Contact
  • Subscribe to our alerts
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow CJS on Twitter
Book Reviews

Intraoperative Irradiation. Techniques and Results

Christopher J. de Gara
CAN J SURG February 01, 2000 43 (1) 64-65;
Christopher J. de Gara
Director, Division of General Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

INTRAOPERATIVE IRRADIATION. TECHNIQUES AND RESULTS. Edited by Leonard L. Gunderson, Christopher G. Willet, Louis B. Harrison and Felipe A. Calvo. 550 pp. Illust. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. 1999.US$195.ISBN0-896-03523-9

This comprehensive review by internationally recognized radiation oncologists, surgeons and scientists likely represents the definitive text on intraoperative irradiation and allied techniques. The 4 editors and 75 contributors are from the United States and Europe; none are Canadian.

The book contains 29 chapters divided into 5 parts: general rationale, techniques and methods, normal tissue tolerances, disease site, and organspecific results and conclusions. The text is extremely well referenced, with numerous diagrams and tables. Given the complex nature of the material I would have appreciated some editorial comment at the end of each chapter.

The reader needs to appreciate that across Canada there is no single intraoperative radiotherapy system. Although the resource-intensive nature of an intraoperative radiation source is certainly a contributing factor, in large part the reason for the absence of a single system is the lack of randomized controlled data (comparing standardized therapies with intraoperative irradiation), which, if positive, would mandate the acquisition of intraoperative irradiation machines as the standard of care for various malignant conditions. Despite this, the book remains a useful reference for the dedicated multidisciplinary oncology team, wishing to have a comprehensive review of these techniques (and current results), which are available in only a very few selected North American and European centres.

In addition, it is important for the reader to appreciate the differences between intraoperative radiotherapy and brachytherapy techniques. In the latter, which is almost universally available in Canadian radiation oncology centres, hollow needles can be placed in various sites such as the esophagus, prostate, retroperitoneum, head and neck and limb, after which the radiation source is introduced into the affected area. Patients then receive a measured radiation dose for a period ranging from a few hours to a few days, providing a greater dose intensity than is possible by standard external beam techniques. With the intraoperative irradiation technique, high-dose radiation is applied in the operating room directly to the tumour bed once the tumour has been removed, generally in a one-time dose rather than in multiple doses as with external beam radiotherapy. Thus, very high doses of radiation can be applied to a small area with a much reduced risk of damaging surrounding tissues. The biophysics of a single high dose versus multiple small doses is well covered in the text.

This book left me with a sense of rivalry between the major United States centres providing this service with often very encouraging, but presumably biased, results.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Journal of Surgery: 43 (1)
CAN J SURG
Vol. 43, Issue 1
1 Feb 2000
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CJS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Intraoperative Irradiation. Techniques and Results
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CJS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CJS web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Intraoperative Irradiation. Techniques and Results
Christopher J. de Gara
CAN J SURG Feb 2000, 43 (1) 64-65;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Intraoperative Irradiation. Techniques and Results
Christopher J. de Gara
CAN J SURG Feb 2000, 43 (1) 64-65;
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Alerts
  • RSS

Authors & Reviewers

  • Overview for Authors
  • Publication Fees
  • Forms
  • Editorial Policies
  • Submit a manuscript

About

  • General Information
  • Staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
  • Reprints
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • Accessibility
  • CMA Civility Standards
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 2291-0026

All editorial matter in CJS represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: [email protected].

View CMA's Accessibility policy.

Powered by HighWire