Irradiation Toxicity and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD): Review

Background/Aim: The evaluation of radiotherapy toxicity in oncologic IBD patients. Defining the optimal patient and treatment factors that would be able to reduce the risk to organs. Materials and Methods: A review of all published radiotherapy trials was performed to identify the clinical and treatment factors of inflammatory bowel disease’s patients treated for different solid tumors. Results: Overall, acute (Grade ≥ 3) gastrointestinal complications attributable to RT ranged between 20-21% of the treated patients. A late Grade ≥ 3 gastrointestinal toxicity was developed in a range between 8-29%. Conclusion: A special attention should be given to the description of IBD location, activity status, concurrent chemotherapy, irradiation dose and technique, in order to minimize post-irradiation morbidity. It is not easy to distinguish late morbidity attributable to radiotherapy due to the IBD itself.