Radiation Therapy to Treat Uterine Cancer Linked with Increased Risk of Bladder Cancer Risk

Radiation therapy used to treat uterine cancer may increase a woman’s risk of developing bladder cancer later in life. Therefore, these new findings reveal the importance of tracking patients for potential signs of bladder cancer to ensure early diagnosis and treatment.

In addition to surgery, 38% of patients undergo pelvic radiation therapy to decrease uterine cancer recurrence. Study findings revealed that women treated with radiation therapy for uterine cancer, similar to men who received radiotherapy for prostate cancer, have an increased probability of developing bladder cancer later in life.

To investigate the subject, Guan Wu, MD, PhD, from the University of Rochester Medical Center (New York, USA), and his coworkers studied the records of 56,681 patients diagnosed with uterine cancer as their first primary malignancy between 1980 and 2005. The data were gathered from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results (SEER) database.

With an average follow-up of 15 years, bladder cancer incidence in uterine cancer patients treated with pelvic radiation therapy was twice as high as that seen in patients treated without radiation. Similarly, the death rate from bladder cancer was nearly three times higher in patients treated with pelvic radiation than in those who did not receive radiation. It is commonly thought that bladder tumors that develop after pelvic radiation tend to be aggressive, with high grades and stages, but this study found that the types, grades, and stages of bladder cancer that developed were similar in patients treated with and without radiation therapy.

“Physicians who care for patients with a history of uterine cancer and pelvic radiation treatment should keep in mind the increased risk of bladder cancer,” concluded Dr. Wu. “Proper clinical evaluation should be performed to avoid delayed diagnosis, which may improve the quality of care for this group of patients.”

The study’s findings were published December 2013 in the BJU International.

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University of Rochester Medical Center