[Digestive lesions caused by radiotherapy after surgery (author's transl)]

Between 1968 and 1972, 33 patients with carcinoma of the colon or the rectum underwent a radical surgical procedure followed by adjuvant irradiation therapy. One month after surgery, 6,000 rads were delivered in 6 to 7 weeks. Five of these patients presented later a radiotherapy ileitis, colitis or rectitis. One of them developed a rectitis of the anastomotic area with important diarrheas treated by drugs only; a second presented bowel subobstructions induced by a radiotherapy ileitis and died in cachexy a few months later. The 3 other patients underwent surgery again; one of them for adhesions in the anastomotic area: a definite left colostomy was realized for a stenosic rectitis in the second patient; the last patient underwent surgery 4 times again and died from a rupture of the iliaca artery. Discussion on the observations made at surgery and on the surgical pathology data could explain the high rate of these iatrogenic lesions induced by radiotherapy.