Low dose radiation should be a standard palliative intervention Friday, September 06, 2024 February 29, 2024—Kingston ON The Canadian led HE1 trial results, published in Lancet Oncology, confirm the quality-of-life benefits of palliative radiation therapy for symptomatic hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases.“These results show that one treatment of simple radiation therapy delivered to the liver resulted in clinically important and statistically significant reduction in patient reported pain one month following treatment,” says Dr Laura Dawson, the HE1 study chair and a Radiation Oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. “The majority of patients treated experienced reduced pain that allowed them to enjoy more quality time near the end of their life.” One dose of palliative radiation therapy directed to the liver in combination with the standard, best supportive care, reduces pain and discomfort for these patients who are often not a good fit for standard therapies. The study concludes that low dose radiation should be considered a standard palliative intervention for hepatic cancer pain. Following this novel, yet simple treatment to a patient with painful liver metastases, a family member stated, “I believe in my heart that the radiation treatment given to (my husband) … gave him at least another 6 weeks of a good quality of life that he might not otherwise have had.”HE1 trial resultsThis multicenter Canadian phase III randomized controlled trial in patients with locally advanced, end-stage, painful primary or metastatic liver cancer (59% with an ECOG performance status of 2 or 3, 26% with impaired liver function, Child-Pugh B or C), found that a single fraction of low dose radiation therapy to the liver led to a significant and clinically important improvement in pain at 4 weeks, compared to best supportive care alone. Using the brief pain inventory, patient reported pain at worst (in the past 24 hours) was improved by 2 points or more on a scale from 0-10 in 67% of patients receiving radiation therapy, compared to 22% receiving best supportive care alone (p=0.004). There was a trend for improved 3-month survival with radiation therapy (51% versus 33% for best supportive care alone, p=0.07). Trial sponsor - About the Canadian Cancer Trials Group The Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG)is a cancer clinical trials research cooperative that runs phase I-III trials to test anti-cancer and supportive therapies at over 85 hospitals and cancer centres across Canada. From their operations centre at Queen's University, CCTG has supported more than 600 trials enrolling 100,000 patients from 40 countries on 6 continents through a global network of 20,000 investigators and clinical trial staff. CCTG is a national program of the Canadian Cancer Society and their aim is to improve survival and quality of life for all people with cancer. For further information, please visit the CCTG website: www.cctg.ca.Media contact Lisa CallahanCanadian Cancer Trials Group343-363-7158lcallahan@ctg.queensu.ca
