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Incidence of pain flare in radiation treatment of bone metastases: A literature review.

ABSTRACT: Pain flare is a temporary increase in pain and is a potential side effect of radiotherapy treatment. However, its incidence has been reported only in recent studies, and with great variability. A few studies have reported on the use of dexamethasone as a prophylactic agent in the prevention of pain flare. The objective of this study is to present a review of the available literature regarding the incidence of pain flare and use of dexamethasone as a preventative measure.A literature search was conducted in PubMed using subject keywords including: "radiation therapy", "stereotactic radiation therapy", "bone metastases", "pain flare", and "dexamethasone". The search was limited to English only but not restricted to any time period. Additionally, a search was also conducted in the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) 2014 book of published abstracts. Inclusion criteria were primary studies published with full text and/or abstracts only. Letters to the editor were excluded.A total of 11 studies were selected, two of which were abstracts published by ASTRO in 2014. Seven articles investigated pain flare and/or dexamethasone use for conventional external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) while the remaining four investigated stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Pain flare incidence ranged from 2 to 44% for EBRT and 10 to 68% in SBRT. The use of dexamethasone also showed to be effective in both the prophylaxis and treatment of pain flare.Pain flare has been established as an acute toxicity of both EBRT and SBRT, although its incidence is widely variable due to differences in data collection. The use of dexamethasone in the prophylaxis of pain flare is efficacious. Future studies are required in order to both optimize the reporting of pain and the dexamethasone regimens in the prevention of pain flare.

SUBMITTER: McDonald R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4723641 | biostudies-other | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Incidence of pain flare in radiation treatment of bone metastases: A literature review.

McDonald Rachel R Chow Edward E Rowbottom Leigha L DeAngelis Carlo C Soliman Hany H

Journal of bone oncology 20141030 3-4

<h4>Purpose</h4>Pain flare is a temporary increase in pain and is a potential side effect of radiotherapy treatment. However, its incidence has been reported only in recent studies, and with great variability. A few studies have reported on the use of dexamethasone as a prophylactic agent in the prevention of pain flare. The objective of this study is to present a review of the available literature regarding the incidence of pain flare and use of dexamethasone as a preventative measure.<h4>Metho ...[more]

PMID: 26909303

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Project description:Background:With the occurrence and improvement of immunohistochemistry and other pathological diagnostic techniques, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) has been gradually recognized. With the prolonged survival of patients with GISTs, reports about the bone metastasis of GIST increased. However, the knowledge of GISTs is rather limited due to its very low incidence. Methods:Cochrane and Medline database (via PubMed) were searched in July 2019 with related keywords to acquire the literature related to the bone metastasis of GIST. Then, the literature was reviewed and references were also scanned to identify the possible related reports. Study data comprising age, sex, primary location, metastasis interval time, immunohistochemistry index, management and prognosis were recorded and analyzed. Results:Forty-five patients with bone metastases of GIST, with a mean age of 61.09 years, were included. The small intestine and stomach were the most common primary sites, followed by the rectum. Patients with small intestine primary sites had bone metastases that occurred earlier than the bone metastases stomach and rectum primary sites. The spine was the most common site of bony metastases. The mean survival time after GIST diagnosis was more than 64.02 months. Patients younger than 60 years old had a worse prognosis than those older than 60 years old. Furthermore, patients with spinal involvement had a worse prognosis than those without spinal involvement. Surgical interventions combined with targeted therapies guaranteed a better prognosis. Conclusion:Bone metastasis of GIST, which mainly occurs in the spine, is rather rare. Patients with GISTs of the small intestine and stomach suffered from bone metastasis more frequently and earlier than patients with GISTs in other primary sites. Age, sex, primary tumor location, treatment mode for the primary lesions and metastases, and spine involvement may be potential factors that affect the prognosis of GIST patients with bone metastases.

Project description:Radiotherapy has a good effect in palliation of painful bone metastases, with a pain response rate of more than 60%. However, shortly after treatment, in approximately 40% of patients a temporary pain flare occurs, which is defined as a two-point increase of the worst pain score on an 11-point rating scale compared to baseline, without a decrease in analgesic intake, or a 25% increase in analgesic intake without a decrease in worst pain score, compared to baseline. A pain flare has a negative impact on daily functioning and mood of patients. It is thought to be caused by periostial edema after radiotherapy. Dexamethasone might diminish this edema and thereby reduce the incidence of pain flare. Two non-randomized studies suggest that dexamethasone reduces the incidence of a pain flare by 50%. The aim of this trial is to study the effectiveness of dexamethasone to prevent a pain flare after palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases and to determine the optimal dose schedule.This study is a three-armed, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial. We aim to include 411 patients with uncomplicated painful bone metastases from any type of primary solid tumor who receive short schedule radiotherapy (all conventional treatment schedules from one to six fractions). Arm 1 consists of daily placebo for four days, arm 2 starts with 8 mg dexamethasone before the (first) radiotherapy and three days placebo thereafter. Arm 3 consists of four days 8 mg dexamethasone. The primary endpoint is the occurrence of a pain flare. Secondary endpoints are pain, quality of life and side-effects of dexamethasone versus placebo. Patients complete a questionnaire (Brief Pain Inventory with two added questions about side-effects of medication, the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL and QLQ-BM22 for quality of life) at baseline, daily for two weeks and lastly at four weeks.This study will show whether dexamethasone is effective in preventing a pain flare after palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases and, if so, to determine the optimal dose.This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01669499.

Project description:PurposeSingle-fraction radiation therapy (RT) is a convenient and cost-effective regimen for the palliation of painful bone metastases, but is still underused. Randomized controlled trials comparing single- versus multiple-fraction RT are limited by generalizability. We compared the pain response rates after single- versus multiple-fraction RT in nonrandomized studies.Methods and materialsWe searched PubMed and Scopus from the inception of each database through August 2018. We sought to identify nonrandomized studies in which data on pain response rates could be extracted for single- and multiple-fraction RT. Our primary outcomes of interest were the overall and complete pain response rates in evaluable patients. The analysis was performed using a random-effects model with the Mantel-Haenszel method.ResultsOf the 3933 articles identified through our search, 9 met our inclusion criteria. Five of 9 included studies did not exclude patients with features of complicated bone metastases. A 1 × 8 Gy radiation schedule was frequently used in single-fraction therapy, and schedules of 5 × 4 Gy and 10 × 3 Gy were frequently used in multiple-fraction therapy. In the 9 studies, the overall response rate was 67% (884 of 1321 patients) for patients in the single-fraction arm and 70% (953 of 1360 patients) for those in the multiple-fraction arm (pooled odds ratio [OR]: 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66-1.08). In 5 studies, the complete response rate was 26% (195 of 753 patients) for patients in the single-fraction arm and 35% (289 of 821 patients) for those in the multiple-fraction arm (pooled OR: 0.89; 95% CI, 0.70-1.13).ConclusionsThere were no significant differences in the overall and complete response rates between single- and multiple-fraction RT. The effectiveness of single-fraction regimens was shown in nonrandomized settings, which better reflect daily practice than randomized studies. The CIs for the pooled ORs included clinically meaningful differences, and the study results are inconclusive.

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Incidence of pain flare in radiation treatment of bone metastases: A literature review.

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Incidence of pain flare in radiation treatment of bone metastases: A literature review.

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