International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics
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Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Oct 2010
Patterns of practice in palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases: impact of a regional rapid access clinic on access to care.
External beam radiotherapy (RT) is commonly indicated for the palliation of symptomatic bone metastases, but there is evidence of underutilization of this treatment modality in palliative care for cancer populations. This study was conducted to investigate factors that influenced the use of palliative RT services at a regional comprehensive cancer center. ⋯ A rapid access service model for palliative RT facilitated access to RT. Travel distance and other factors remained substantial barriers to use of palliative RT services. The pattern of practice suggests an unmet need for symptom control in patients with bone metastases.
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Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. · Oct 2010
Differential impact of whole-brain radiotherapy added to radiosurgery for brain metastases.
The authors investigated whether the addition of whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) to stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) provided any therapeutic benefit according to recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class. ⋯ These results suggest that RPA classification should determine whether or not WBRT is added to SRS. WBRT may be recommended to be added to SRS for patients in whom long-term survival is expected on the basis of RPA classification.