Resection with external beam and intraoperative radiotherapy for recurrent colon cancer

To review treatment outcomes for patients with locoregional recurrent colon cancer who underwent resection, intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT), and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).

Retrospective study of patients treated between January 1990 and June 1994.

Tertiary care cancer center.

Eleven patients with bulky recurrent colon cancer extending to adjacent organs or structures signed informed consent forms to receive IORT.

Of 10 patients who underwent exploratory laparotomy, 5 had no metastatic disease and underwent resection, IORT, and EBRT. Complete resection was accomplished in 4 patients. Doses of IORT ranged from 13 to 20 Gy depending on residual tumor burden; EBRT was typically delivered postoperatively to a dose of 45 Gy.

Survival and locoregional tumor control.

All 4 patients who underwent complete resection, IORT, and EBRT are alive without locoregional recurrence 53 to 77 months after treatment. Of these, only 1 patient developed distant metastases. The fifth patient, who had gross residual tumor, developed local recurrence 5 months after IORT. One patient developed an IORT complication-ureteral fibrosis leading to ipsilateral nephrectomy.

Long-term disease-free survival can be achieved in selected patients with bulky regional recurrence of colon cancer with complete tumor resection, IORT, and EBRT.