Radiation therapy for the removal of adenoid tissue.

IT IS NOW the carefully considered opinion of many otolaryngologists that infection of nasopharyngeal lymphoid tissue is a factor of the greatest importance in diseases of the respiratory tract and the ear. From the history alone it is apparent that in many patients recurrent infections of ear, nose and throat have their beginning in the nasopharynx. Careful nasopharyngeal examinations and the results observed after elimination of infected adenoids have consistently confirmed this observation. Although this has been especially emphasized in recent years, it has been well recognized for a long time, as demonstrated by the frequency with which repeated surgical attacks on the nasopharynx have been carried out on children with persistent respiratory or aural diseases. Although radiation therapy for the elimination of adenoids has been used for over twenty years and many thousands of patients have been treated, few reports on the results obtained are in the literature. During