Practice patterns in radiation therapy for bone metastases in multiple histologies.

Abstract

151 Background: Radiation therapy (RT) is a common palliative treatment for bone metastasis. Despite copious evidence of palliative equipoise between single and multiple fractions, practice patterns vary widely amongst physicians. We evaluate practice patterns and the impact of treatment regimens on percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (PRLSRT) and overall survival. Methods: Patients with metastases from Prostate, Lung, Breast, and Kidney to the bone who received RT were identified from the National Cancer Database. The percentage of remaining life spent receiving RT (PRLSRT) was calculated by dividing the elapse days of RT by the number of days they survive from starting RT to death. Results: 43516 patients met the inclusion criteria. The majority were non-small cell lung (64.7%), while breast (13.5%), prostate (11.0%), and kidney (10.8%) had almost equal amounts. Median patient age was 67 years old (18-90). Treated metastatic sites included the spine (61.9%), hip/pelvis (11.2%), and extremity (8.13%). A higher percentage of patients had a PRLSRT over 50% depending on the primary site of their cancer: Lung was the highest (14.4%), followed by kidney (8.9%), breast (6.2%), and prostate (1.4%). Prostate cancer was most often treated with 11+ treatments (38.4%), followed by breast (34.1%), Kidney (33.1%), and finally lung (28.5%) PRLSRT was highest in those who received multiple treatments, with 11.4% of patients receiving 11+ fractions and 11.5% of those receiving 6-10 treatments with a PRLSRT above 50% compared to 1.2% of those receiving a single treatment. Conclusions: Despite the increased burden on patients with more fractions of therapy and the lack of clinical benefit, multiple fractionations remains a common practice , which can impact the way patients spend the end of their lives. More care should be taken to reduce fractionation whenever possible to allow for patient comfort and autonomy.