Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 May-Aug;21(2):168-73.
doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.156482.

Analysis of patterns of palliative radiotherapy in north west India: a regional cancer center experience

Akhil Kapoor  1 , Mukesh Kumar Singhal  1 , Narender Kumar  2 , Ashok Kalwar  1 , Puneet Kumar Bagri  1 , Satya Narayan  1 , Raj Kumar Nirban  1 , Harvindra Singh Kumar  1
Affiliations

Analysis of patterns of palliative radiotherapy in north west India: a regional cancer center experience

Akhil Kapoor et al. Indian J Palliat Care. 2015 May-Aug.

Abstract

Background: Palliative radiotherapy (PRT) is the eventual requirement in 30-50% of all cancer patients. PRT is primarily aimed to relieve pain and prevent/treat collapse or fracture in case of bone metastasis, to reduce edema in patients with cranial metastasis, and to control distressing symptoms of rapid primary growth. An audit of PRT planned in a busy cancer center can help in the characterization of the requirements of the patients and the formulation of institutional policies.

Materials and methods: In total, 516 patients who received PRT in our regional cancer center from January 2012 to December 2012 and whose complete records were available for analysis were selected for this retrospective study. Medical records and radiotherapy files were analyzed to obtain data such as sociodemographic parameters, prescription of PRT, and follow up. Descriptive statistics were evaluated in terms of frequencies and percentages to allow comparisons.

Results: Of the 516 patients, 73% patients were male; the median age of the patients receiving PRT was 62 years (range 13-83 years). About 48% (n = 248) patients received PRT at the primary site while rest (52%) were given PRT at the metastatic site. The most common indication of PRT was pain (56.8% cases), followed by cytostatic PRT (19.8%) and raised ICT (12.4%). The median dose prescribed was 30 Gy (range 8-36 Gy) delivered in 1-12 fractions over the duration of 1-18 days. The overall response rate was about 43% at 2 weeks of completion of PRT; the median follow-up of the patients was 154 days (range 9-256 days). The long-term symptom relief at median follow up was 8%.

Conclusions: Good clinical judgment and expertise is required in prescribing correct fractionation schedule to achieve effective symptom palliation with lowest possible cost and inconvenience to the patients and relatives. Hypofractionated radiotherapy is a feasible treatment option in patients with advanced incurable disease to achieve effective palliation.

Keywords: North West India; Palliative radiotherapy; Regional cancer center; Sociodemographic parameters.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Fallon M. When morphine does not work. Support Care Cancer. 2008;16:771–5. - PubMed
    1. Sharma K, Mohanti BK, Rath GK, Bhatnagar S. Pattern of palliative care, pain management and referral trends in patient receiving radiotherapy at a tertiary cancer center. Indian J Palliat Care. 2009;15:148–54. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smyth JF. Disclosing gaps between supportive and palliative care: The past 20 years. Support Care Cancer. 2008;16:109–11. - PubMed
    1. Zhu YJ. Palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases: Short-course or long-course? Ann Palliat Med. 2012;1:78–80. - PubMed
    1. Steenland E, Leer JW, van Houwelingen H, Post WJ, van den Hout WB, Kievit J, et al. The effect of a single fraction compared to multiple fractions on painful bone metastases: A global analysis of the Dutch Bone Metastasis Study. Radiother Oncol. 1999;52:101–9. - PubMed