J Korean Soc Ther Radiol.
1992 Dec;10(2):237-246.
Bowel Complication after Radiotherpy of Uterine Cervix Carcinoma
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
- Five hundred and fifty patients treated for carcinoma of the uterine cervix at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital from 1979 to 1986, were analyzed retroepectively for late rectal complications. Of them, 468 patients received primary radiotherapy for the cervix cancer in intact uterus, and the other eighty two patients were treated postoperatively. The cumulative incidence of radiation induced rectal complication of grade 2 or 3 was 6.7% at five years. The mean rectal dose for the group of patients with complication was higher than the group without complication, and the difference was statistically significant (p< 0.01). But relationship between mean rectal dose and severity of complication was not found. The frequency of complication (grade 1, 2, 3) increased as a function of radiation dose to rectum; from 16.1% for patients with rectal dose less than 6,000 cGy to 71.2% for patients with rectal dose higher than 8,000 cGy. Among various factors analyzed, history of diabetes mellitus, number of intracavitary irradiation, size of ovoid, retroflexion of uterus and the total dose delivered to rectum turned out to have significant effect on the complication.
