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A review of the rationale for application of combined radiation and chemotherapy in the treatment of certain malignant tumors has been presented. The mechanisms of action of ionizing radiations and many of the commonly employed chemotherapeutic agents are intimately related to the nucleic acid metabolism of proliferating cells. Modification of the DNA-molecule by certain chemotherapeutic agents results in sensitization of the cell to subsequent irradiation. Reduction in the total number of malignant cells by preirradiation chemotherapy facilitates subsequent radiotherapy of advanced tumors. Certain chemotherapeutic antitumor agents exert a beneficial effect by restraining the growth of distant metastases which often escape clinical detection.
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Vermund et al. (1968) studied this question.
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