Quality of life after palliative radiotherapy in bone metastases: A literature review

Rachel McDonald; Edward Chow; Leigha Rowbottom; Gillian Bedard; Henry Lam; Erin Wong; Marko Popovic; Natalie Pulenzas; May Tsao

doi:10.1016/j.jbo.2014.11.001

Quality of life after palliative radiotherapy in bone metastases: A literature review

J Bone Oncol. 2014 Nov 18;4(1):24-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jbo.2014.11.001. eCollection 2015 Mar.

Authors

Rachel McDonald¹, Edward Chow¹, Leigha Rowbottom¹, Gillian Bedard¹, Henry Lam¹, Erin Wong¹, Marko Popovic¹, Natalie Pulenzas¹, May Tsao¹

Affiliation

¹ Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program, Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the quality of life (QOL) following palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in OvidSP Medline (1946-Jan Week 4 2014), Embase (1947-Week 5 2014), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Dec 2013) databases. The search was limited to English. Subject headings and keywords included 'palliative radiation', 'cancer palliative therapy', 'bone metastases', 'quality of life', and 'pain'. All studies (prospective or retrospective) reporting change in QOL before and after palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases were included.

Results: Eighteen articles were selected from a total of 1730. The most commonly used tool to evaluate QOL was the Brief Pain Inventory. Seventeen studies collected data prospectively. An improvement in symptoms and functional interference scores following radiotherapy was observed in all studies. The difference in changes in QOL between responders and non responders was inconsistently reported.

Conclusion: QOL improves in patients who respond to palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases.

Keywords: Advanced cancer; Bone metastases; Quality of life; Radiation therapy.

Publication types

Review