title: Radiotherapy combined with daily escitalopram in patients with painful bone metastasis: clinical evaluation and quality of life measurements.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To prospectively assess the efficacy of the selective serotonin inhibitor escitalopram on painful bone metastases, in combination with external beam irradiation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-three patients with cancer metastatic to bone and suffering from depression were treated with 3 Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3DCRT) (30 Gy; 3 Gy/fraction, 5 days/week) combined with escitalopram (20 mg/day). Pain relief was evaluated with Wong/Baker Faces Pain Scale. The patients reported outcome using a RTOG-EORTC quality-of-life self-questionnaire (QLQ-C30 v3.0) and the status of depression according to Hamilton Scale (HAM-17). The assessment was performed at baseline and 6-8 weeks after radiotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients treated with radiotherapy and escitalopram tended to show a good response to pain and improvement of their quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though our data concerned a rather small number of patients, addition of escitalopram to 3DCRT accomplished a high clinical benefit rate on neuropathic pain from bone metastasis.
authors.affiliation: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, 2nd Department of Radiology, Radiotherapy Unit, Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tolia
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fotineas
authors.forename: Kalliopi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nikolaou
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rizos
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kantzou
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zygogianni
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kouvaris
authors.forename: Kalliopi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Platoni
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pantelakos
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sarris
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kelekis
authors.forename: Vassilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kouloulias
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D015283:Citalopram / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D015283:Citalopram