STUDY OF EFFICACY OF HYPOFRACTIONATED RADIOTHERAPY 8 GRAY IN SINGLE FRACTION IN PALLIATION OF PAIN SECONDARY TO BONE METASTASIS

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of hypo-fractionated radiotherapy 8 Gray in 1 fraction for palliation of painsecondary to bone metastasis.Study Design: Quasi-experimental study.Place and Duration of Study: Oncology department, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, Sep 2012 to Nov2013.Patients and Methods: Forty three patients were included after permission from concerned authorities andHospital 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 skeletalmetastasis were recorded. Radiotherapy 8 Gy in 1 fraction was administered using 6MV (mega voltage) PrimusLinear 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 thirtydays (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%) showed an improvement in pain score.Conclusion: Based on our results hypofractionated radiotherapy 8 Gy in 1fraction is an effective modality in thepalliation of pain secondary to bone metastasis.