[Radiation-induced vaginal necrosis].

A report is given on three cases of total vaginal necrosis observed between 1980 and 1983 in 156 evaluable patients submitted to primary or postoperative irradiation. Characteristic signs of this disease are the incidence of sudden pains (increased in sitting position), necrosis and ulceration of the complete vaginal area, and a tendency to spontaneous recovery. All patients had been treated by hysterectomy or Wertheim operation, suffered from associated cardiovascular troubles, and had been exposed to a large surface irradiation of the vagina with 75 to 90 Gy. The disease was reversible in two cases, one patient presented a rectovaginal fistula after a latency of three years. Further risk factors for this complication communicated in literature as well as the differential diagnosis of recurrent carcinoma are discussed.