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Abstract

Irradiation is widely used in the treatment of some malignant tumours. It has become the therapy of choice in certain circumstances where surgery and/or chemotherapy have failed to produce good results. With increasing use, we have become more aware of the complications and potential hazards of radiotherapy. This chapter aims to describe the pathological changes after radiation to the bowel and the urogenital tracts. Both systems are affected due to their inclusion in the pelvic irradiation field. The commonest pelvic tumour requiring radiotherapy arises within the uterine cervix but tumours of the uterine body, ovaries, vagina, bladder, prostate and rectum are being increasingly treated by radiotherapy.

“When treating tumours with high radiosensitivity in tissues of relatively low radiosensitivity, few complications of therapy occur.” Morgan Berthrong (1986)

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Haboubi, N.Y., Hasleton, P.S. (1989). Pathology of Radiation Injury. In: Schofield, P.F., Lupton, E.W. (eds) The Causation and Clinical Management of Pelvic Radiation Disease. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1704-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1704-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1706-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-1704-9

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