A 55-year-old woman with cancer of the cervix undergoes hysterectomy and is found to have pelvic lymph nodes involved with cancer. She then receives a course of external beam radiation (4500 rads). When the physician counsels her prior to her radiation treatment, she should be told of all the possible complications of radiation enteritis. Which of the following is generally not associated with radiation injury?

The effects of radiation on the intestine depend on a variety of factors, which include the age of the patient, temperature, degree of oxygenation, and metabolic activity. Acute intestinal radiation injury is manifested in the bowel by the cessation of viable cell production and is seen clinically as diarrhea or gastrointestinal bleeding. Progressive vasculitis and fibrosis are seen in the latter stages of radiation injury and may result in malabsorption, ulceration, fistulization, or perforation. Intussusception is generally not associated with radiation injury.