Keynote address: hypoxic cell sensitizers: clinical developments

Tumors having small islands of cells should be radiosensitive, and those having large masses, radioresistant. This was found to be the case and there is a ready explanation for this: the outside cells are close to blood vessels and will thus be well supplied with oxygen, while the inside cells are not well placed in this respect. Now it is known that cells well supplied with oxygen are radiosensitive, compared to the same cells deprived of oxygen; it is therefore likely that for this reason, variation in blood supply, that the outside cells are more easily destroyed than those within.''29 references