RESUMEN
Objectives: To determine the efficacy of hypo-fractionated radiotherapy 8 Gray in 1 fraction for palliation of pain secondary to bone metastasis
Study Design: Quasi-experimental study
Place and Duration of Study: Oncology department, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, Sep 2012 to Nov 2013
Patients and Methods: Forty three patients were included after permission from concerned authorities and Hospital Ethical Committee. OPD registration numbers, name, age, gender, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group [ECOG] performance status [PS], diagnosis of primary malignancy along with histopathology and sites of skeletal metastasis were recorded. Radiotherapy 8 Gy in 1 fraction was administered using 6MV [mega voltage] Primus Linear Accelerator with 2-2.5 cm margin around the gross disease at the Oncology department, CMH Rawalpindi. Pain score was recorded using visual analogue scale on the day of administering radiotherapy [day 0] and thirty days [day 30] after radiotherapy to assess response to treatment
Results: There was a statistically significant [<0.001] improvement in the scores of pain with treatment at day 30. Thirty four out of forty three patients [86 percent] showed an improvement in pain score
Conclusion: Based on our results hypofractionated radiotherapy 8 Gy in 1fraction is an effective modality in the palliation of pain secondary to bone metastasis