Risk Stratification for Imminent Risk of Death at the Time of Palliative Radiotherapy Consultation.

Palliative radiotherapy (RT) is frequently an effective treatment option for patients with advanced cancer; however, a substantial proportion will receive RT at the end of life.1 Prognostic tools, including the TEACHH (Type of cancer, ECOG [Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group] performance status, Age, prior palliative Chemotherapy, prior Hospitalizations, and Hepatic metastases),2 the model developed by Chow et al,3 and NEAT (Number of active tumors, ECOG performance status, Albumin, primary Tumor)4 models, can help guide decision-making to better align treatment intensity and prognosis. However, these may not generalize to all clinical scenarios, particularly for patients at imminent risk of death.5 Given this important unmet clinical need, we sought to identify prognostic criteria for 30-day mortality among patients with metastatic cancer undergoing palliative RT at our institution.