International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics
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Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Jul 1999
Rectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease: natural history and implications for radiation therapy.
There exists little information concerning the natural history of rectal cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, the tolerance of pelvic irradiation in these patients is unknown. We analyzed the largest series of patients with IBD and rectal cancer in order to determine the natural history of the disease as well as the effect and tolerance of pelvic irradiation. ⋯ Treatment results are comparable to those historically reported for non-IBD-related rectal cancer although the subset of high-risk patients appeared to have a poorer outcome. In light of this finding and the ability of these patients to tolerate chemotherapy and pelvic irradiation, aggressive adjuvant therapy should be given to IBD-associated rectal cancer patients with high-risk features.