• U Niang, S Kamer, Z Ozsaran, A Haydaroglu, and S Kilciksiz.
• Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Clinic of Radiation Oncology, Izmir, Turkey. niango71@yahoo.fr
• J Buon. 2009 Apr 1; 14 (2): 245-9.

PurposeThe objective of this study was to evaluate the palliation of pain of bone metastases with biphosphonates and different radiotherapy protocols in 372 cancer patients.Patients And MethodsPatients were treated with one of the 3 different radiotherapy protocols: 30 Gy in 10 fractions (group A), 20 Gy in 5 fractions (group B) and 8 Gy in a single fraction (group C). Two patient groups were studied: one with radiotherapy alone and the second with biphosphonates plus radiotherapy. The severity of pain was recorded before treatment. According to the pain relief, two different groups were defined: palliation rate<50% (limited palliation) and >50% (partial palliation), including complete pain relief.ResultsOverall limited and partial palliation rates were 20.2 and 79.8%, respectively (complete pain palliation 24.2%). In the group treated with both external radiotherapy and biphosphonates, limited and partial palliation rates were 19.5 and 80.4%, respectively (p=0.47). For 244 metastatic lesions treated with palliative radiotherapy alone, limited palliation rate was 20.4% and partial palliation rate 79.5%. No differences were detected between the groups with or without biphosphonates treatment in terms of pain palliation. According to the radiotherapy protocol, limited palliation rates in groups A, B, and C were 17.7, 20.3, and 28.5%, respectively (p=0.19, p=0.38, and p=0.26, respectively). Partial palliation rates were 82.2% in group A, 79.6% in group B and 71.4% in group C (p=0.42, p=0.21, and p=0.11, respectively). Similarly, no statistically significant differences were detected among the 3 radiotherapy schemes in terms of pain palliation.ConclusionWhen combined with palliative radiotherapy, biphosphonates did not have any additive effects on pain palliation in the management of painful bone metastases. In addition, a single radiotherapy fraction provides equal pain palliation as multiple fractions.

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