Senior CA patients also benefit from palliative radiotherapy

(HealthDay)—All patients with painful bone metastasis should be referred for palliative radiotherapy to relieve the pain, regardless of age, according to a study published online May 23 in the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology.

Jon Cacicedo, M.D., from Universitario Cruces/Biocruces Health Research Institute in Barakaldo, Spain, and colleagues evaluated whether age is a predictor of pain response after radiotherapy for painful bone metastasis among 128 patients undergoing palliative radiotherapy (June 2010 to June 2014).

Based on pain response assessment completed pre-treatment and at four weeks after radiotherapy, the researchers found that pain response was better in those aged >75 years versus younger patients (odds ratio, 3.2), in patients receiving multiple fractions rather than a single fraction of 8 Gy (odds ratio, 2.8), and in patients with a pretreatment pain score ≥8 versus ≤7 (odds ratio, 2.4). No other variables reached significance. The only independent predictors of pain response, in multivariate analysis, were treatment schedule (odds ratio, 3.4) and pre-radiotherapy pain score (odds ratio, 2.8).

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