Shared Decision Making on Radiation Dose for Lung Malignancies

When a lung tumor is located close to the thoracic wall, there is an increased risk of developing chest wall pain or rib fracture following SBRT of the tumor. A meta-analysis has shown the pooled risk of chest wall pain to be 11% and that of rib fracture to be 6.3% with significant differences between individual studies. These side effects may occur several years after the treatment. SDM is a collaborative process allowing patients and healthcare professionals to make decisions together taking into account the best scientific evidence as well as patients' values, preferences, life situation, and knowledge about disease process and prognosis. PtDAs are tools designed to assist caregivers in the process of informing patients about relevant treatment options. PtDAs contain factual and balanced information about the options and the pertaining pros, cons, and probabilities. The tools are relevant when the decision is preference-sensitive, that is, the right treatment cannot be decided based on professional knowledge alone. The use of PtDAs has shown to provide a number of positive effects on the patients, including increased knowledge of options, better understanding of risks, and clarity as to what matters most in their life situation. Other effects are decreased decisional conflict and a higher degree of involvement in decision making. This is a randomized trial enrolling eligible patients during a period of 16 months. SDM will be used in the planning of SBRT to patients with peripheral non-small cell lung tumors or lung metastases and offer them the choice between high (66 Gy in 3 fractions) and low (45 Gy in 3 fractions) radiation dose. A total of 40 patients will be included in the study, i.e. 20 patients in each arm.