Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical outcome and toxicity after adjuvant whole abdominal radiotherapy (WART) in patients with ovarian cancer.
Material and methods: Ten patients with optimal cytoreduced ovarian cancer, with a mean age of 58 years (40-70) and stage Ic: 4, stage II: 2, stage III: 4, were treated with WART and adjuvant chemotherapy (9/10). The total radiation dose was 22.5 Gy in the whole abdomen and 42-45 Gy in the pelvis.
Results: The mean follow-up was 8 years. The 5-year actuarial disease-free survival (DFS) was 60%, and the overall survival (OS) was 70%. Four patients had disease recurrence. The sites of recurrence were the abdomen in 2 patients and distant metastases in the other 2 patients (liver and brain metastasis). Gastrointestinal toxicity was as follows: acute 3/10 grades I and II, and late toxicity: 2/10 grades I and II, and only 1 patient developed small bowel obstruction (SBO) that required surgery.
Conclusions: Whole abdominal radiotherapy after surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy achieves high locoregional disease control with an acceptable risk of acute toxicity.
Keywords: Gastrointestinal toxicity; Ovarian cancer; Whole abdominal radiotherapy.