• Dirk Rades, Lukas J A Stalpers, Rainer Schulte, Theo Veninga, Hiba Basic, Rita Engenhart-Cabilic, Steven E Schild, and Peter J Hoskin.
• Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, University Hospital Hamburg, Martinistr. 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany. Rades.Dirk@gmx.net
• Eur. J. Cancer. 2006 May 1; 42 (8): 1052-6.

AbstractMany different schedules are used world wide for radiotherapy (RT) of metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC). Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have an extraordinarily poor survival prognosis and would benefit from a short overall treatment time. This retrospective study compares short-course RT (1 x 8 Gy/1 day, 5 x 4 Gy/1 week) and long-course RT (10 x 3 Gy/2 weeks, 15 x 2.5 Gy/3 weeks, 20 x 2 Gy/4 weeks) for functional outcome in 252 NSCLC patients developing MSCC. Improvement of motor function occurred in 14% of patients, no change in 54%, and deterioration in 32%. Functional outcome was affected by the time of developing motor deficits before RT (>14 days better than 1-7 days and 8-14 days, P<0.001), not by the radiation regimen (P=0.87). In the short-course RT group, functional outcome was similar for 1 x 8 Gy and 5 x 4 Gy (P=0.94). Short-course and long-course RT appear similarly effective for MSCC in NSCLC patients. As 1 x 8 Gy and 5 x 4 Gy showed comparable results, 1 x 8 Gy can be considered appropriate.

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