Radiation colitis

Specialty| Gastroenterology
Causes| Radiation therapy

Radiation colitis is injury to the colon caused by radiation therapy.[1] It is usually associated with treatment for prostate cancer or cervical cancer.[1] Common symptoms are diarrhea, a feeling of being unable to empty the bowel,[2] gastrointestinal bleeding, and abdominal pain.[1]

If symptoms of radiation colitis onset within 60 days of exposure to radiation, it is referred to as acute; otherwise, it is classified as chronic.[1] Acute radiation colitis may onset within a few hours of radiation exposure, and may clear up within two or three months after radiation ends.[1] Between 5 and 15% of individuals who receive radiation to the pelvis may have chronic radiation colitis.[1] Radiation therapy can also affect the bowel at the small intestine (radiation enteritis) or the rectum (radiation proctitis).[2]

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Odze and Goldblum surgical pathology of the GI tract, liver, biliary tract and pancreas. Elsevier Health Sciences. 2014. p. 480. ISBN 9781455733248.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Radiation colitis and proctitis". Clin Colon Rectal Surg 20 (1): 64–72. February 2007. doi:10.1055/s-2007-970202. PMID 20011363.

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