Treatment tolerance and early complications with extended field irradiation in gynaecological cancer.

Treatment tolerance and early complications have been analysed in patients treated with extended field irradiation and pelvic irradiation alone. At the Centre Georges-François Leclerc, 126 patients were treated for carcinoma of the uterine cervix and endometrium from May, 1972 to November, 1974. All patients received external irradiation using a 25 MV X-ray beam. Follow-up has been nearly complete in all patients with the minimum follow-up being 15 months and the average 24 months. Treatment tolerance was approximately the same for all field sizes except when the field was extended to the top of D12. In this situation the patients occasionally required a short rest during their irradiation. The age of the patient was found to contribute significantly to the tolerance, with 70% of the patients who experienced poor tolerance being older than 60 years. Complications were evenly distributed in all all catagories of field size and appeared to be affected only by age and previous surgery. Of the patients who experienced complications 68% were older than 60 years, and of the 37 patients who had previous surgery, 32% had a complication. With certain treatment modifications the treatment tolerance and early complications appear acceptable when using extended field irradiation for gynaecological cancer.