Myelopathy Secondary to Hyperthermia after Spinal-Cord Irradiation

To the Editor: Douglas et al. (March 5 issue) reported on the appearance of sudden myelopathy after whole-body hyperthermia was administered to patients at one, four, and six weeks after irradiation of the spinal cord. 1 The doses were within the range of tolerance for the spinal cord, as reported by Wara et al. 2 In nine other patients who had received radiotherapy to the spine and subsequent hyperthermia and who had no neurologic problems, there was an interval of at least two months between the administration of the two modalities. The authors also state that none of 60 other patients given . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.