This was a prespecified secondary analysis of a randomized trial, which analyzed quality of life (QOL), fatigue, and emotional distress following stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) versus conventional three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) as part of palliative management of painful spinal metastases.
Fifty-five patients were enrolled in this single-institutional randomized exploratory phase II trial (NCT02358720). Participants were randomly assigned to receive SBRT (single-fraction 24 Gy) or 3DCRT (30 Gy/10 fractions). QOL (EORTC QLQ-BM22), fatigue (EORTC QLQ FA13), and emotional distress (QSC-R10) at the end of radiotherapy, along with 3- and 6-month follow-up were assessed.
At all recorded time points, there were no significant QOL differences between cohorts, including painful sites, pain characteristics, functional impairment, or psychosocial aspects (p>0.05 for all). There were also no differences in all dimensions of fatigue between groups at each recorded time point (p>0.05 for all). Emotional distress was also similar at three (p=0.248) and six months (p=0.603).
Although these results demonstrate that SBRT does not cause worse QOL deteriorations compared to 3DCRT, larger randomized investigations are recommended to corroborate these findings.
Anticancer research. 2018 Aug [Epub]
Tanja Sprave, Vivek Verma, Robert Förster, Ingmar Schlampp, Thomas Bruckner, Tilman Bostel, Rami Ateayh El Shafie, Nils Henrik Nicolay, Jürgen Debus, Harald Rief
Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany ., Department of Radiation Oncology, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A., Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany., Department of Medical Biometry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.