Esophageal fistula associated with intracavitary irradiation for esophageal carcinoma.

Fifty-three patients with esophageal carcinoma were treated with high-dose-rate intracavitary irradiation following external irradiation. Ten patients developed esophageal fistula. Perforations were found in the bronchus (four), major vessels (four), pericardium (one), and mediastinum (one). The frequency of fistula occurrence in these patients was not remarkably different from that in 30 other patients treated only with greater than or equal to 50 Gy external irradiation. From the time of the development of esophageal fistula, intracavitary irradiation did not seem to accelerate the development of fistula. The fistulas in our ten patients proved to be associated with tumor, deep ulcer (created before intracavitary irradiation), chemotherapy, infection, and trauma rather than the direct effect of intracavitary irradiation.