Radiotherapy of endocrine ophthalmopathy. Evaluation of 56 case records

The authors present the radiotherapeutic results achieved in 56 patients with endocrine ophthalmopathy, 15 out of them with severe, so-called malignant course. All patients were irradiated conventionally with small doses between 3 and 10 Gy at the surface. For this purpose, a deep therapy unit with 250 kV was used. The X-ray irradiation produced an improvement in 62% of the cases; the separate evaluation of cases with malignant course showed an improvement in nine cases. Thus the results produced by this method are as good as those of high doses, the greater possibilities in case of recurrence, however, are to be considered as an advantage. The irradiation should be applied early, and the simultaneous administration of a cortisone preparation is preferred by our team. (orig.)