Effects of abdominal surgery on the development of radiation enteropathy.

A controlled, retrospective study was undertaken to ascertain whether or not abdominal surgery at any time before radiation therapy might result in an increased incidence of radiation enteropathy. One hundred and five patients in three groups were studied; 24 had radiation enteropathy which developed an average of 12.5 months after radiation therapy, and 28 were matched controls without this complication. The records of a further group of 53 unmatched controls, who survived more than 2 years after irradiation were also examined. In the group with radiation enteropathy, 18 (75%) had a history of prior surgery, whereas only 3 (10.7%) of the matched controls had been operated before irradiation (chi2 = 3.52, P less than .005). The incidence of prior surgery in the unmatched control group was 13.2%. These data indicate that abdominal surgery before radiotherapy does increase the risk of subsequent development of radiation enteropathy.