Radiotherapy of Minimally Symptomatic Spinal Disease
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2027-01-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Early palliative care has been shown to improve the quality of life and even survival for
patients with metastatic cancer. More and more supportive oncology teams in cancer centers
now advocate for early integration of radiation therapy (RT) in a patient's palliative
management course. While multiple randomized studies have evaluated the efficacy of different
RT regimens in the treatment of symptomatic bone lesions, few studies have examined the
impact of early, upfront RT for asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic (non- opioid dependent)
spine metastases and its efficacy in preventing skeletal-related events (SREs). Since the
pathophysiology of spinal metastatic disease is distinct from other bony metastatic disease,
the proposed trial seeks to understand whether it is beneficial to patients with minimally
symptomatic disease to undergo upfront RT to reduce the risks of SREs and their sequelae,
including hospitalizations.