All About Palliative Radiotherapy

What is Palliative Radiotherapy?

A beneficial treatment for patients with advanced cancer. With a success rate ranging from 60% to 80%, this method helps control symptoms and improve patients' quality of life. While improvements often manifest a few weeks after the start of treatment, they are very significant. Unlike complete radiotherapy, which can last for several weeks, palliative treatment is generally shorter, with daily sessions for five days or even a single session. This approach is therefore very practical for patients and can significantly improve their adherence to treatment.

Radiotherapy in Palliative Care

Radiotherapy is a key element of the multidisciplinary approach to cancer care. It is estimated that 50% to 60% of all cancer patients can benefit from this treatment. In particular, radiotherapy plays a crucial role in palliative care. Despite a growing demand for this form of therapy, due to medical advances and an aging population, it is often not readily available in many developed countries. Unfortunately, a lack of awareness of its effectiveness and usefulness in treating cancer patients persists among doctors and healthcare professionals.

How Does Radiotherapy Work?

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How Does Radiotherapy Treatment Proceed?

Radiotherapy treatment involves three steps:

1. The first step involves a visit with the radiation oncologist to openly discuss prognosis and treatment goals in order to plan the treatment process;
2. To move to the next step, it is essential to determine which part of the body will be treated. This crucial step is called "simulation" and often takes place using a fluoroscopy device or a dedicated simulator, or even a tomography.
3. The third step is the treatment itself. Radiotherapy is usually given five days a week, Monday to Friday with a weekend break, over a period of several weeks. Radiotherapy only lasts a few minutes per day;

Discover how palliative radiotherapy treatments, which primarily aim to relieve pain, can be shorter and more effective. In fact, they consist of one to ten sessions designed to improve symptoms quickly. And to ensure easier access for patients, some radiotherapy centers even offer to consult a radiation therapist, simulate and start treatment on the same day.

Palliative Radiotherapy: The Case of Bone Metastasis

One of the most commonly used treatments to relieve bone metastases is radiotherapy, which works by reducing pain in about 80% of patients. With few side effects, symptoms generally improve within 1 to 3 weeks of treatment. Breast, prostate, and lung cancers are most likely to spread to the bones and can be diagnosed using tests such as bone scans, X-rays, and magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography. If the patient experiences back pain and shows neurological signs and symptoms, it is important to rule out any possibility of future nerve compression. Prolonged treatment is rarely necessary in patients with limited survival. The radiotherapy process can take some time before patients feel real pain relief. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to provide them with adequate pain relief during this period.

Palliative Radiotherapy Underutilized by Physicians

Palliative radiotherapy requires fewer resources than radical treatment. Radiotherapy treatment not only offers fewer side effects, most of which are mild and easily treatable, but is also unfortunately underutilized in the medical context to treat patients with advanced cancer. Yet, it has proven its ability to relieve pain and other symptoms, and plays a crucial role in the treatment of cancer emergencies. General practitioners have a key role to play in detecting symptoms that could benefit from radiotherapy treatment and should therefore quickly refer their patients to a radiation therapist or oncologist.

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