[Late urological complications of abdominopelvic radiotherapy. A personal series of 39 cases (author's transl)].

The authors study 39 cases of late genitourinary sequelae following abdominopelvic radiotherapy. Several points appear to be of interest: - the mean latent period was 3.5 years for bladder sequelae and 4 years for ureteric complications. Fistulae could develop on average 14 years after radiotherapy; - the possibility of ureteric complications in the form of stenosis after radiotherapy, exclusive of associated surgery; - all lesions were purely due to radiation, excluding recurrences of neoplasm; - bladder complications had striking symptoms with dysuria and haematuria. Ureteric stenosis was sometimes found by chance, being latent; - associated digestive tract radiation lesions were seen in 1 case in 4; - the frequent need for surgery, since this was required in 30 patients out of 39. The operations performed were often extensive; - the grave nature of surgical operations including a digestive phase in these patients who had received large doses of radiation. Peritonitis due to the breakdown of sutures was a notable source of mortality; - one of the great difficulties in investigating such patients is to be able to confirm the purely radiation aetiology of these complications, bearing in mind that amongst urological complications following the treatment of pelvic carcinomas, the majority are related not only to radiation but also to recurrence of neoplasm.