radiotherapy gynecological cancer osteonecrosis

Purpose: to assess the incidence and risk factors of pelvic fractures as a result of radiation therapy in women with gynecological cancer. Methods and materials: We retrospectively reviewed 3530 female patients treated at our institute between 1980 and 1998 with megavoltage radiation with or without brachytherapy for cancer in the pelvic area. Results: 15 patients developed symptomatic bone fracture caused by osteoradionecrosis, which makes an overall incidence of 0,42 per cent. Conclusion: Patients with osteoporosis are at highest risk for developing osteoradionecrotic fractures after pelvic radiotherapy. More studies are needed to find out other endogenous predictive factors ( e.g.TGF-b).