腹部肿瘤如结直肠癌和前列腺癌的发病率不断增加。放射治疗是临床治疗腹部/盆腔癌症患者的常见方法，但它经常不幸地引起肠道、结肠和直肠的放射性肠炎（RE）。然而，目前缺乏适当的治疗方法以有效预防和治疗RE。预防和治疗RE的传统临床药物通常通过灌肠和口服给药应用。提出了创新的以肠道为靶点的药物输送系统，包括水凝胶、微球和纳米颗粒，以改善RE的预防和治愈。尽管RE让患者非常痛苦，但与肿瘤治疗相比，RE的预防和治疗在临床实践中没有引起足够的关注。向RE的病理部位输送药物是一个巨大的挑战。传统药物输送系统的短暂停留和弱靶向性影响了抗RE药物的治疗效率。新型药物输送系统，包括水凝胶、微球和纳米颗粒，可以使药物长期停留在肠道并靶向炎症部位以缓解放射性损伤。

The incidence of abdominal tumors, such as colorectal and prostate cancers, continually increases. Radiation therapy is widely applied in the clinical treatment of patients with abdominal/pelvic cancers, but it often unfortunately causes radiation enteritis (RE) involving the intestine, colon, and rectum. However, there is a lack of suitable treatment options for effective prevention and treatment of RE.Conventional clinical drugs for preventing and treating RE are usually applied by enemas and oral administration. Innovative gut-targeted drug delivery systems including hydrogels, microspheres, and nanoparticles are proposed to improve the prevention and curation of RE.The prevention and treatment of RE have not attracted sufficient attention in the clinical practice, especially compared to the treatment of tumors, although RE takes patients great pains. Drug delivery to the pathological sites of RE is a huge challenge. The short retention and weak targeting of conventional drug delivery systems affect the therapeutic efficiency of anti-RE drugs. Novel drug delivery systems including hydrogels, microspheres, and nanoparticles can allow drugs long-term retention in the gut and targeting the inflammation sites to alleviate radiation-induced injury.