The Palliative Radiotherapy in Bone Matastases

Choi, Young Min; Lee, Hyung Sik; Hur, Won Joo

Abstract

To objectively compare the response of the palliative radiotherapy in bone metastatic patients which decreases pain and prevents pathologic fractures, we introduced and applied the RTOG pain and narcotic measure system. From Oct in 1991 to July in 1993, thirty-two patients with painful bone metastases, 17 of them were solitary lesions and others were multiple lesions, were treated with mainly 6 MV photon otherwise 15 MV photon. Radiation doses to bone metastatic sites ranged about from 2000 to 4600cGy. Responses of radiation therapy were compared with days of pre-RT, RT finish, 3, 6, 9 months after the start of RT and solitary versus multiple lesions and follow up scores according to the RTOG measure system. Survival analysis was done. Pain and narcotic score of the entire patients were 7.3, 7.8 at the pre-RT period and 2.6, 3.9 at the immediate or 2 weeks after RT, which was 64%, 50% decrement compared with the pre-RT score. Pain scores of 3, 6 and 9 months after the beginning of irradiation were 3.6, 3.7 and 3.3. The best response found in the breast and prostate primaries was 84%, 78% decrement of pain score as compared with pre-RT score (statistically insignificant). Median survival was 5.5 months and mean survival was 5 months. We conclude that the RTOG pain and narcotic measure system in relatively effective scale in the comparison of before and after palliative irradiation to the painful bone metastatic sites but more detailed parameters will be required in the narcotic scoring system. More aggressive but less or similar toxic radiotherapy is needed in the patients having relatively long life expected time.