[Radiation enteritis: the results of surgical treatment]

We reviewed the results of surgical therapy for radiation enteropathy in 18 consecutive patients. Fifteen (83%) were females and the age ranged from 31 to 81 years old. The indication for radiotherapy was cancer of the cervix in 10 patients (56). The mean radiation dose was 5190 rads (range 4000 to 7000). Of 23 radiation lesions, 12 (52%) were located in the ileon, 10 in the rectum and 1 in the sigmoid. Fibrosis and stenosis was the most frequent lesion (70%) followed by fistulae (22%) and proctitis in 2 patients. Resection or derivation was the surgical treatment employed in 22 of the 23 lesions. For lesions of the ileon, we performed resection and anastomosis in 7 patients and derivation in 5. For rectal lesions we performed resection, endoanal descent and colo-anal anastomosis in 7 patients anterior resection in 2 and colostomy in 1. Complications were observed in 5 patients (28%) and 1 patient died (5%). After a mean follow up of 56 months, 5 patients have died from recurrence of the original neoplastic lesions. We feel that surgical treatment allows improvement in quality of life of patients with radiation enteropathy.