Impact of diabetes on gastrointestinal and urinary toxicity after radiotherapy for gynecologic malignancy

OBJECTIVE: Although diabetes is a common co-morbidity in patients with gynecologic cancer, information about its impact on radiation toxicity in patients with gynecologic cancer treated with external pelvic irradiation is scarce. We aimed to investigate the relation of diabetes with acute toxicity in patients with gynecologic tumors who underwent pelvic +/- paraaortic radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-nine patients with endometrium or cervix carcinoma were enrolled in the study. Demographic features, presence of diabetes, incidence and severity of upper gastrointestinal (UGIS), lower gastrointestinal (LGIS), and urinary symptoms were recorded from files. Correlation and logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of diabetes, age, chemotherapy, paraaortic irradiation on toxicities, and a prediction model was developed. RESULTS: The median age of 77 patients with endometrium cancer and 52 cervix cancer was 61 (range, 25-92) years, and 28 (21.7%) of them had diabetes. The median pelvic and tumor/tumor bed dose was 5040+247.65 cGy and 5040+222.91 cGy, respectively. Age and Gr 0 UGIS toxicity were significantly related (p=0.047). LGIS Gr 0 toxicity was found to be significantly higher in patients with diabetes (p=0.045). Gr 0 and 2 UGIS toxicities were both found to be significantly correlated with paraaortic irradiation (both p<0.001). Diabetes is also an important determinant on UGIS toxicity in patients who underwent paraaortic irradiation. CONCLUSION: The correlation we found between toxicity and diabetes, concurrent chemotherapy or paraaortic radiation necessitates special care and risk stratification for patients with diabetes. Further prospective studies with long follow-up and larger patient groups are warranted.