Incidence of second primary cancers was evaluated in 7,127 women with invasive 
cancer of the cervix uteri, diagnosed between 1935 and 1978, and followed up to 
38 years (average, 8.9 yr) in Connecticut. Among 5,997 women treated with 
radiation, 449 developed second primary cancers compared with 313 expected 
(relative risk = 1.4) on the basis of rates from the Connecticut Tumor Registry. 
Excess incidence was noticeable 15 years or more after radiotherapy and 
attributed mostly to cancers of sites in or near the radiation field, especially 
the bladder, kidneys, rectum, corpus uteri, and ovaries. No excess was found for 
these sites among the 1,130 nonirradiated women. The ratio of observed to 
expected cancers for these sites did not vary appreciably by age at irradiation. 
The data suggested that high-dose pelvic irradiation was associated with 
increase in cancers of the bladder, kidneys, rectum, ovaries, corpus uteri, and 
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but, apparently, not leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, breast 
cancer, or colon cancer.