Research institutions
Klinik für Radioonkologie, Strahlentherapie und Nuklearmedizin, Alfried Krupp Krankenhaus, Alfried-Krupp-Straße 21, 45117 Essen, Germany, Contact: Prof. M. Heinrich Seegeenschmiedt, Tel: ++49 / 201 / 434-2559, E-mail: 
Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Strahlenklinik, Universitätsstr. 27, 91054 Erlangen, Germany, Tel.: ++49 / 9131 / 85-34080. E-mail: 
Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University Medical School, Boston 02114, USA.
Publications about radiation therapy
The articles below use scientific language, but their content still makes them worth reading. We list several of them because this therapy is not widely known.
Most recent:
The book M. Seegenschmiedt, H-B Makoski, K-R Trott, and L. Brady (Eds.) "Radiotherapy for Non-Malignant Disorders" Springer (Berlin, New York, 2008) addresses a medical audience. It provides general background information, e.g. on radiobiological principles, therapeutical devices, or side effects and long-term risks, together with detailed and comprehensive chapters on radio treatment of a large variety of diseases. Specifically of interest are chapter 9 on "Morbus Dupuytren / Morbus Ledderhose" (p 161 - 192) and chapter 10 on "Peyronie's Disease" (p 193 - 208). The Dupuytren article, authored by Heinrich Seegenschmiedt, addresses etiology, pathogenesis, diagnostic aspects (including imaging techniques), and treatment strategies. The section on "Radiotherapeutic Management" covers cell level radiation effects on proliferating Dupuytren nodules, specific aspects of radiating MD/ML, risk analysis, and the current statistical results of radiating Dupuytren and Ledderhose.
Paper at DEGRO '07, Hannover: M. Blaese and H. P. Rodemann "Irradiation and hyperproliferative processes : radiobiological aspects". This paper addresses the cellular aspects of radiating Morbus Dupuytren in its early development. This is a fundamental research paper addressing a medical audience. We provide the full paper because it explains why radiotherapy is effective and why it is effective specifically in the initial phase of Dupuytren's disease. Cellular basis of Morbus Dupuytren (pdf).
Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery on Hand (ASSH) 2006:
M.H. Seegenschmiedt, M. Wielpütz, C. Schubert, T. Olschewski, and F. Guntrum „Radiotherapy for Early Stage M. Dupuytren - Long-Term Outcome” -- Powerpoint version or web version. Contact: Prof. H. Seegenschmiedt 
Dupuytren e.V. gratefully acknowledges that the authors provided their papers for Internet publication on our web site.
Morbus Dupuytren:
In early stages of Dupuytren's contracture, radiotherapy was applied to prevent disease progression. Long-term (10 years) results and late toxicity of this treatment were evaluated in a retrospective analysis of 176 hands (99 patients). Long term results are very good if radiation therapy is applied in early stages of Dupuytren. - Boris Adamietz, Ludwig Keilholz, Jörg Grünert, and Rolf Sauer, Strahlentherapie und Onkologie 177, Number 11 (2001), p 604 - 610. Link: dupuytren_article (on the link scroll down for the English text).
Aiming to reduce the radiation dose, two different radiotherapies were compared (one standard, one with about 30 percent lower dose) on a total of 129 patients. After one year, results did not exhibit significant differences between both therapies, thus probably allowing lower dose therapy. Longer term analysis is under way. - Seegenschmiedt MH, Olschewski T, Guntrum F, “Radiotherapy optimization in early-stage Dupuytren's contracture: first results of a randomized clinical study”, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 49/3 (2001) p 785-798. Link: radiotherapy
A study from the US concludes that radiation is a highly effective alternative in situations where surgery would result in major functional or cosmetic defects (not mentioning early stage benefits). - Spear MA, Jennings LC, Mankin HJ, Spiro IJ, Springfield DS, Gebhardt MC, Rosenberg AE, Efird JT, Suit HD, “Individualizing management of aggressive fibromatoses”, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 40/3 (1998) p 637-645. Link: us_radiotherapy.
Morbus Ledderhose:
25 patients with Ledderhose's disease were treated with radiotherapy and controlled over 1 - 5 years afterwards. About 80 percent of the patients report improvements, while the rest report stable conditions. None of the patients had to undergo surgery. - Michael Heinrich Seegenschmiedt and Mared Attassi, Strahlentherapie und Onkologie 179, Number 12 (2003), p 847 - 853. Link: ledderhose_article (on the link scroll down for the English text)
General:
A recent summary of radiotherapy, i.e. of two pattern-of-care studies, in which about 250 institutions participated, is published in M. H. Seegenschmiedt, O. Micke, N. Willich, and the German Cooperative of Benign Diseases "Radiation Therapy of Nonmalignant Diseases in Germany", Strahlenther Onkol 11 (2004) p 718 - 730.
Page last modified:
02/05/2008