Prostate Research Campaign UK - Prostate News article

Prostate news article, June 2005

THE USE OF RADIATION TO ALLEVIATE BONE CANCER PAIN

Journal of the National Cancer Institute June 1, 2005

News Report selected by: John Anderson, CEO, Prostate Research Campaign UK

Severe pain can occur when cancer spreads to the bones, but recent American research has shown that a single dose of radiation may be a suitable alternative to the series of daily doses usually given to control this pain. While the single-dose approach increases the chances of the need for repeat treatment, apparently it is better tolerated than the multiple-dose approach. It also has fewer side effects.

These findings are based on a study involving 898 patients with breast or prostate cancer that had spread to the bones and was causing moderate to severe pain. Patients were randomly selected to receive the single or the multiple-dose protocol, with the former group being given 8 Grays of radiation and the latter a total of 30 Grays over the treatment period.

The study reported that:

Only 10 % in the single-dose group experienced moderate-to-severe side effects during treatment, as against 17% in the multiple dose group.
The long-term side effect rate was about the same for each group, at about 4 %.
66 % of patients experienced pain relief and there were no significant differences between the groups in complete or partial response rates.
One third of all patients no longer required narcotic pain relievers at three months.
The percentage of patients that experienced cancer-related fractures was the same in each group (about 4%).
The majority of patients gave positive responses on treatment by hospital doctors and nurses and felt that they had done all they could to help ease pain, but some complained that they had to tell staff about their pain, rather than have their pain assessed by staff.
A fifth of those in hospital and a quarter of those outside hospital felt they did not receive enough help in dealing with distress and anxiety.

The report did point out that nearly twice as many patients in the single-dose group required further radiation treatment as those in the multiple-dose group. Other studies support these findings and have indicated that single-dose radiation therapy can be sufficient to control the bone pain resulting from the spread of cancer.