Does fludarabine improve the therapeutic ratio of radiotherapy in mouse tumors after single-dose irradiation?
The data presented here demonstrate that fludarabine can potentiate local tumor control induced by single-dose irradiation. While jejunum sensitization limited the relative effectiveness when fludarabine was administered 3 h before irradiation, a therapeutic ratio greater than one was always achieved when fludarabine was given 24 h before irradiation.
Barring one case of partial circumflex stenosis, likely due to the ongoing normal progression of coronary artery disease, these data derived from a limited prospective trial suggest that epicardial application during the cryomaze procedure does not cause anatomic or physiological compromise of the circumflex artery. Nevertheless, laboratory and anecdotal evidence exist that conflict with this conclusion, and caution should be exercised when applying cryothermy in the vicinity of coronary arteries.