Post-radiation soft tissue damage in endometrial carcinoma: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Radiotherapy (RT) is a widely used treatment modality of malignant tumours of the uterine cervix and body. There are different techniques to deliver RT to the tumour lesions, including external beam radiation and brachytherapy. All international guidelines recommend RT as treatment modality for many stages of uterine cervical and body cancers because it improves a number of oncological outcomes, such as disease-free and overall survival. However, it may also lead to a number of complications, which can be roughly divided into early or late, depending on the time of their manifestation. The most frequent RT-induced early complications involve the skin and the soft subcutaneous tissues. They typically present as inflammatory conditions of all abdominal wall layers: dermatitis, cellulitis, and necroses of subcutaneous fatty tissue, muscles, or fasciae. CASE REPORT: This paper presents a case report of a 38-year-old woman diagnosed with endometrial cancer (EC). She was initially treated with open abdominal surgery, and subsequently the treatment was continued with external beam adjuvant RT. DISCUSSION: While RT was ongoing, a necrosis of the anterior abdominal wall in the surgical scar developed. It manifested at the end of the RT treatment and is thus regarded as an early complication of the RT for EC. It was successfully managed with surgery, and there was no compromise in the treatment of the oncological condition. CONCLUSIONS: RT-induced necrosis of the surgical scar of the anterior abdominal wall is a very rare complication. Surgical treatment is the main method of treatment of this condition.