This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tobias, C. A. Articles by Huggins, C. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tobias, C. A. Articles by Huggins, C. B.

Pituitary Irradiation with High-Energy Proton Beams A Preliminary Report^*

C. A. Tobias, J. H. Lawrence, J. L. Born, R. K. McCombs, J. E. Roberts, H. O. Anger, B. V. A. Low-Beer and C. B. Huggins

( Donner Laboratory of Biophysics and Medical Physics, Donner Pavilion, and the Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.)

There has been described a multiple-plane, rotational technic for irradiation of the human pituitary gland with the 340-Mev proton beam from the 184-inch synchrocyclotron. Peak doses of 14,000–30,000 rad at the center of the pituitary have been administered to 26 patients with metastatic breast cancer, and decreased pituitary function and gross and microscopic damage of the pituitary gland have been demonstrated. The most common laboratory findings were depression of I¹³¹ uptake by the thyroid and decrease of 24-hour urinary gonadotropins. There was clinical evidence of improvement in a few of the patients treated. Four patients with acute lymphatic leukemia, embryonal dysgerminoma of the testis, chronic lymphatic leukemia and diabetes mellitus, and malignant exophthalmos have also been irradiated, but they are not reported in detail at this time.

^* Various phases of this work were supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the Donner Foundation, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the California State Cancer Fund.

The present communication is based on AEC Report UCRL 3035, July, 1955.

Deceased, September, 1955.

Director, Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Chicago.

Received 5/20/57.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				REFERENCES J. ICRU, December 1, 2007; 7(2): 189 - 210. [PDF]