title: A glossary for reporting complications of treatment in gynecological cancers.
abstract: Reporting and scoring treatment complications in gynecological cancers is difficult because of the variety of normal tissues, anatomical structures and treatment disciplines involved, making it impossible to compare series of patients treated in different institutions even with the same strategy. An international group of experts (gynecologists, radiotherapists and surgeons) developed a multidisciplinary database to identify, score and report early and late normal tissue damage regardless of treatment strategy. The principles involve: (1) The identification of relevant organs and tissues; (2) An accurate definition of the type and score of each complication; (3) Reporting combinations of complications of various degrees; (4) A computerized format for data acquisition, update and retrieval. In the present version, the "Glossary" describes five degrees of increasing severity (0 to 4) in 14 organs and/or normal tissues. The rationale of the glossary leaves it open for as yet undescribed types of complications. This paper contains the definition and scoring for each type of complication, general guidelines for their use.
authors.affiliation: Tumor Institute, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chassagne
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sismondi
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Horiot
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sinistrero
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bey
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pernot
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gerbaulet
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kunkler
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Michel
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000209:etiology; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D013812:Therapeutics / Q000009:adverse effects; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology