Many Endometrial Ca Patients Get Unnecessary Radiation Post Surgery.

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- Many women who have endometrial cancer are indiscriminately given pelvic radiation after hysterectomy regardless of whether they need it, according to one gynecologic oncologist.

Dr. John Soper of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., maintained that many endometrial cancer patients could be spared the possible toxic effects of radiation treatment if their cancer was properly evaluated at the time of their hysterectomy.

But 70%-80% of patients with endometrial cancer are treated by general ob.gyns. who aren't trained to do the extensive staging required to determine whether radiation therapy is actually needed, he commented at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.

"Historically, if full surgical staging is done with lymph node dissection, we find that only about 15%-20% of patients need additional radiotherapy, rather than the 70%-80% who are currently getting it," he told this newspaper.

Studies show that as many as 12% of patients who receive radiotherapy will have serious complications such as bowel obstructions or fistulas, which can result in death.

"The majority who receive whole pelvic radiation will get over the acute toxicity, but probably one in three women will have problems, sometimes even 20 years down the road when atherosclerosis or diabetes aggravates the radiation damage to the small vessels and the bowel and the bladder," Dr. Soper said ...