Practice changing trial results show new radiation treatment improves pain relief for cancer patients Wednesday, June 23, 2021 The practice changing CCTG SC24 randomized phase II/III trial is the first to show that stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is superior to conventional radiation treatments in alleviating pain from spinal metastases. Findings from the International trial have been published in Lancet Oncology https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(21)00196-0/fulltext. Radiation therapy is commonly used to relieve the pain of metastases to the spine, by shrinking the tumors and reducing inflammatory cells. This study showed that using fewer and higher doses of precisely delivered SBRT is more effective than the standard treatment with 35% vs 14% of patients reporting an enduring, complete control of pain at the study’s primary endpoint of three months post-radiation. This is an important outcome as patients with uncontrolled pain have poor quality of life. “This is the first phase III randomized trial that has shown an improvement with dose escalation for painful spinal lesions with stereotactic radiation,” said lead author Arjun Sahgal, MD, a professor and deputy chief of radiation oncology at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the University of Toronto. “Pain deteriorates a patient’s quality of life and nobody with advanced cancer should have to endure this kind of pain. Patients with painful spinal metastases who meet the eligibility criteria should be offered this treatment.” Read more here.
