Complications after Radiation Therapy for Cervical Carcinoma

It has long been an accepted policy to employ radiation therapy as initial treatment of choice for invasive carcinoma of the cervix uteri in all stages of the disease.The treatment techniques are usually modifications of the Paris or Stockholm methods, using intracavitary application of radioactive sources or a combination of external and intracavitary irradiation.A gradual change in the techniques of treatment in order to improve end results continually occurs, based on clinical experience; but these changes in treatment techniques should be modified to the point where the radiation is distributed more precisely to the target volume, the tumor and its surroundings, trying to improve the results, while maintaining a low rate of complications.The aim of the present report is to present the types and rate of complications encountered with the radiation techniques used at this hospital.Material.A total of 1 394 cases of invasive carcinoma of the cervix uteri in an intact uterus were seen from January 1956 to December 1965.Seventy-one cases (5%) were not treated, either because their stage of the disease was too advanced, the general condition of the patient too poor to justify treatment, or because the patient refused treatment or left for treatment elsewhere.Incomplete treatment was