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Case Reports
. 2023 Feb 26;15(2):e35484.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.35484. eCollection 2023 Feb.

A Case of Radiation-Induced Aortitis in a Patient With Cervical Cancer

Cédric Charrois-Durand  1 , Marie-Claude Beauchemin  1 , Maroie Barkati  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

A Case of Radiation-Induced Aortitis in a Patient With Cervical Cancer

Cédric Charrois-Durand et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Radiation-induced aortitis is a rare but potentially serious complication of radiotherapy. We report the case of a 46-year-old female with a history of cervical cancer who developed radiation-induced aortitis following two courses of concurrent chemoradiation. The patient was asymptomatic, and the condition was detected during a routine follow-up positron emission tomography (PET) scan. The patient was referred to rheumatology for differential diagnosis, which ruled out non-radiation-induced aortitis. The condition was managed conservatively, and a follow-up computed tomography (CT) scan showed resolution of the aortitis but the progression of aorto-iliac fibrosis. The patient was then started on prednisone, which led to a regression of the aorto-iliac vessel thickening.

Keywords: abdominal aortitis; chatgpt; complication of treatment; radiation induced vasculitis; recurring cervical cancer; side effects of radiotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared financial relationships, which are detailed in the next section.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Axial (A) and coronal (B) planning CT scan illustrating the dose distribution of her second radiation course. The planning target volume is depicted in green, inside the yellow isodose line.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Axial (A) and coronal (B) slices of CT angiogram depicting thickening and infiltration of the abdominal aorta (white arrows) with periaortic fat infiltration.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Coronal CT scan slices depicting evolution of aortitis to fibrosis (A) (white arrow) and regression of fibrosis after corticosteroid therapy (B) (black arrow). Also note the right ureteritis (white arrowhead) and bilateral hydronephrosis (black arrowheads).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Screen captures of (a) the first answer ChatGPT gave when asked for its help, which illustrates how the AI knows the basics pertinent information required to write a case report, and also how nice and polite it is; (b) a strength of ChatGPT, were it extracted information pertinent to the case report when provided with a list of human-picked references; and (c) a limitation of ChatGPT, were it started to write a fictional case report despite having been provided with accurate clinical information earlier, and initially producing a good first draft of the non-fictional case report requested.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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