Management of bone metastases: recent advances and current status

Evaluating the effectiveness of combined radiotherapy and hyperthermia for the treatment response of patients with painful bony metastases: A phase 2 clinical trial

INTRODUCTION

Since the survival time of patients with bony metastases has noticeably improved in recent years, these patients are at high risk of complications associated with this metastasis. Hence, the appropriate choice of treatment modality or combination of therapeutic approaches can lead to increasing bone pain relief, improving quality of life, etc. This study is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of combined radiotherapy and hyperthermia for the treatment response of patients with painful bony metastases.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In a single-arm clinical trial, 23 eligible patients (14 female and 9 male) with the mean age of 67 years old and suffering from bony metastases were enrolled in the study. Two hours after radiotherapy, the patients underwent hyperthermia for 1 h in the supine position. All the patients completed the brief pain inventory (BPI) assessment tool and quality of life questionnaire (QLQ-C30) from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) at the baseline, end of the treatment and 1, 2 and 3 months thereafter. The response to the treatment was assessed as the zero score (complete response) or two or more than two-point drop of the worst pain within the preceding 24 h (partial response) during the 3-month posttreatment.

RESULTS

All the pain intensity and interference scores, except the pain interference with the enjoyment of life score, significantly decreased. A total of 18 out of 23 patients (78%) achieved complete or partial response. The number of patients using pain relief medications decreased from 74% (n=17) at the baseline to 48% (n=11) 3 months later. Moreover, except for nausea and vomiting, appetite loss, diarrhea and financial impact problems, the patients' quality of life improved significantly in all the functional scales and symptoms within 3 months.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that using hyperthermia in combination with radiotherapy significantly ameliorated bone pain among the patients suffering from cancer with painful bony metastases.

Excretion and whole-body retention of radium-223 dichloride administered for the treatment of bone metastases from castration resistant prostate cancer

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to determine the fraction of administered activity that was excreted and retained by a small cohort of patients who each received treatment with radium-223 dichloride (Ra). Ra is an α-emitting radionuclide that has been approved for use in the treatment of bone metastases that are secondary to castration resistant prostate cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Six patients received two weight-based administrations of Ra 6 weeks apart. Activity excreted in the urine and faeces during the first 48 h following each treatment was assessed by direct counting of the excreta. During the same period the whole-body retention of Ra was also determined using a single probe counting system. The results of the excreta counting and the whole-body counting were compared to determine whether whole-body counting was a suitable surrogate for assessing excretion. Further whole-body retention counts were made at around 3, 4, 7 and 42 days following treatment.

RESULTS

Patterns of excretion and retention of Ra varied significantly between patients, but were similar for each patient's pair of treatments. The cumulative maximum activity excreted in the initial 8-h period following the Ra administration was 2.6% that increased to 39% at 48 h. The median excreted activity at ~1 and 6 weeks after treatment was 70 and 86%, respectively. Skeletal retention of Ra at 6 weeks ranged from 11 to 60% of the administered activity.

Clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients with bone metastasis in Yazd, Iran: a cross-sectional retrospective study

To evaluate the clinico-pathological and survival characteristics in patients with bone metastasis. This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with bone metastasis who referred to Shahid Ramezanzadeh radiation oncology center. For all of the patients studied, demographic and survival information was recorded. SPSS was used to analyze the data. In this study, 89 men (53.3%) and 78 women (46.7%) with bone metastasis were examined. Most of the patients were in the 66 to 87 age range. Breast cancer was the most common type of cancer in women and prostate cancer was the commonest in men. In most patients, pain was the first manifestation of the disease, and the spine has been most frequently involved areas. The disease was diagnosed by isotope bone scan in the most cases. The mean survival was 31.1 months for patients with breast cancer, 12.9 months for patients with prostate cancer, 13.7 months for patients with lung cancer and the overall survival was 22.5. There was only a meaningful correlation between sex, type of cancer, radiation dose, and survival in patients. We found that age was more effective than the variable of cancer type in survival of patients with bone metastasis. The prognosis of patients with bone metastasis in our center is fair. There was a significant correlation between sex, type of cancer, radiation dose, and survival. Cox proportional hazards model showed that age was a predictor of death.

Re-irradiation for painful bone metastases - a systematic review

The purpose of this review was to determine the efficacy of re-irradiation in patients with bone metastases. A literature search was conducted in Ovid Medline, OldMedline, Embase, Embase Classic, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials using relevant subject headings and keywords such as bone metastases, radiotherapy and palliative care. The resulting articles were sorted for inclusion for palliative external beam radiation retreatment response rate data. The literature search produced 2164 references and 15 articles were included in the final selection. Complete, partial and overall response rates were calculated to be 20%, 50% and 68%, respectively. Information on treatment toxicities was scarce. The efficacy of re-irradiation is comparable to initial radiation treatment. However, aspects of re-irradiation treatment including dose fractionation, related adverse events and toxicities require further corroboration.