• Jeong Il Yu, Hee Chul Park, Yong Chan Ahn, Yoonsun Chung, Woong Sub Koom, and Si Yeol Song.
• Department of Radiation Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• Cancer Res Treat. 2016 Jul 1; 48 (3): 1102-9.

PurposeThe Korean Society of Radiation Oncologists (KOSRO) conducted the Patterns of Care Study (PCS) of radiotherapy (RT) for spine metastases in 2009. The current study was conducted to investigate current practice patterns and compare them with the results of the PCS.Materials And MethodsThe survey questionnaire was composed of 10 questions regarding general information and seven questions for each of two clinical scenarios.ResultsFifty-four members of the KOSRO answered at least one question on the web-based questionnaire. The yearly number of patients treated who underwent palliative spine RT was greater than 200 in 14 (25.9%), 51 to 100 in 13 (24.1%), and 31 to 50 in 11 respondents (20.4%). Scenario 1 described a patient presenting with cord compressive spine metastasis in multiple bones and liver metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer. Thirty gray (Gy) in 10 fractions was chosen by 35 respondents (64.8%). Scenario 2 described a case of a single spine metastasis without progression after targeted therapy. Thirty Gy in 10 fractions was chosen by 19 respondents (35.2%), and a single fraction or less than four fractions of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) were selected by 18 respondents (33.3%). When compared with the 2009 PCS, practice patterns of Korean radiation oncologists had not changed significantly over 5 years, except that SABR emerged as a new treatment modality in the selected population.ConclusionThe 2014 PCS demonstrated that multiple fraction RT is still preferred in a considerable proportion of Korean radiation oncologists.

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