Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has shown promising early results in the management of bone metastases. However, there is a paucity of prospective data studying the use of SBRT for bone metastases originating from low alpha-beta tumors, with systematic reporting of changes in pain scores and analgesia use over time. The vast majority data looking at SBRT in bone lesions focuses on local control and survival, rather than more tangible outcomes in a palliative population including symptomatic control, durability of response, and patient reported quality of life; a component that is understudied in this group despite its tremendous value. Furthermore, SBRT for bone metastases has yet to become common practice given the limited evidence for its efficacy and uncertainty in regards to toxicity.
The current study proposes an investigation of the potential benefits of SBRT for symptomatic bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer, breast cancer, renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and sarcoma. The investigators look to conduct a prospective cohort study that is adequately powered to analyse efficacy in alleviating pain from bone lesions and compare this to well-established rates in literature for conventionally fractionated palliative RT. Furthermore, this study will assess the tolerability of this modality, toxicity rates, and effect on quality of life. If the results show that SBRT has a significant benefit on this population, the goal would be to pursue a larger randomized trial to confirm the findings.
