Complications associated with intraperitoneal 32P

The charts of all patients having received intraperitoneal 32P in the Indiana University Department of Radiation Oncology were retrospectively reviewed for complications and potentially related factors. Ninety-five patients had received this therapy, with a mean follow-up of 43.6 months. The majority of patients (81) had ovarian cancer. Complications were defined as mild if no intervention was required, moderate if medical intervention was required, and severe if the event was life-threatening or required surgical correction. Twenty patients (21%) had acute side effects recorded, with 15 of them (16%) being mild. The moderate complications (five patients) consisted of three cases of bowel obstruction, and two cases of abdominal pain requiring narcotics. There were no severe acute side effects. Chronic complications were found in 15 patients (20% actuarial 5-year incidence). Seven cases were mild (12% 5-year incidence), one was moderate (1%), and seven cases were classified as severe (7.4% 5-year incidence). All moderate and severe cases were bowel obstructions. Acute side effects were found to be related only to the volume of instillate (P = 0.049). Chronic complications were found to be related only to adjunctive pelvic/abdominal radiotherapy, with a 44% 5-year rate in patients receiving the combination having complications vs 17% (P = 0.04) (or 4.7% if mild complaints are excluded, P = 0.002) of those with 32P only. Comparison is made to other reports in the literature.