[New surgical procedure for the protection of the small intestine before postoperative pelvic irradiation].
A prosthesis was designed to protect the intestinal loop from external beam radiation therapy when post-operative radiation is indicated. It is a silicone inflatable balloon, which, when implanted displaces the intestinal loops out of the pelvic irradiation field. The prosthesis can be deflated between each course of irradiation, without surgery. The device has been used in 8 patients: 6 patients with recurrent pelvic tumor (2 rectal cancers, 1 anal cancer, 1 cancer of the endometrium, 1 cervical carcinoma, 1 ovarian carcinoma), 2 patients with primary tumor (1 malignant paraganglioma, 1 cervical carcinoma). Radiotherapy was administered by means of high power appliances. After radiotherapy, the prosthesis was deflated, then removed through a 3 cm incision under local or peridural anesthesia. The tolerance of the small intestine to the radiation therapy has been satisfactory in each case with no bowel injury due to radiation. Therefore, this simple device might be useful to prevent bowel injury during postoperative radiation in the treatment of abdominal and retroperitoneal tumor masses.