title: To What Extent Does Radiotherapy Improve the Quality of Life of Patients With Bone Metastasis?: A Prospective, Single-Institutional Study.
abstract: Radiation therapy (RT) is an effective method of palliating painful bone metastases and improves the quality of life (QoL) of these patients. The purpose of this trial is 2-fold: to quantify the impact of RT in the QoL of patients with bone metastasis and to compare the QoL results between the most used schemes of RT at our Centre.
  
  
  
  A consecutive sample of patients with bone metastasis treated with RT in the Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Spain, was addressed between January 2011 and November 2012. The QoL was measured with the Quality of Life Questionnaire-C15-Palliative questionnaire, a short version of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 for palliative care. Two assessments were proposed for each patient: one on the first day of the treatment and the other one a month after the end of the radiotherapy sessions. One hundred and sixteen patients completed the first questionnaire and 75 completed the second one (65%).
  
  
  
  Significant differences appeared in 9 domains, with better QoL in the second assessment. Five areas (physical functioning, global, fatigue, nausea, dyspnea, and constipation) showed little change (between 5 and 9 points), 3 (emotional functioning, insomnia, and appetite loss) showed moderate change (10 to 20 points), and 1 (pain) showed a very positive change (>30 points).When we compare the QoL scores between the 2 most used schemes of RT (30 Gy/10 fractions vs. 20 Gy/4 to 5 fractions), there are no significant differences in any QoL areas (and in 2 areas P was near 0.05).
  
  
  
  Palliative RT is a very active treatment for patients with bone metastasis regardless of age, location, primary tumor, or RT scheme. RT significantly improves the QoL, fundamentally by controlling pain and reducing analgesic use. Shorter schemes of RT produce at least-if not better-the same effect on QL than longer schemes (30 Gy).
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.affiliation: Oncology, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Arrarás
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Asín
authors.affiliation: Oncology, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
authors.forename: Uxúe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Zarandona
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Itxaso
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Errasti
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barrado
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Maider
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campo
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Visus
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiation Oncology.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dominguez
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013030:Spain; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome