Supervoltage therapy has definitely proven its superiority over orthovoltage therapy in the treatment of carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The advantages of such a modality are so obvious that, in the treatment of deeply infiltrating, high-grade carcinomas of the urinary bladder, radiation therapy, which was originally of dubious usefulness, has become the treatment of choice.
In the past, orthovoltage radiotherapy, plagued by its many limitations, such as severe skin reactions, poor patient tolerance, marked radiation cystitis, inability to deliver a cancericidal dose, and unsatisfactory tumor control, was only able to provide a five-year survival frequency not exceeding 5%.
Supervoltage therapy (with 1 million to 24 million volts, cesium 137, or cobalt [60Co]), being able to deliver a cancericidal dose to the pelvis or bladder with reduced reactions and a small incidence of complications, has drastically improved such results.
In addition to the technical advantages offered by supervoltage equipment, a