‘Who’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ in re-irradiation of recurrent painful bone metastases

Re-irradiation of painful bony metastases is increasingly performed since patients are receiving better systemic treatments and having longer life expectancy, and may also be due to the increase use of initial single fraction radiotherapy. However, randomized control trial on the efficacy of re-irradiation is lacking. A recent meta-analysis concluded with a 58% response rate for pain relief by re-irradiation of symptomatic bone metastases. In this review, the effectiveness of re-irradiation in terms of clinical and economical aspects, and clinical questions on who, when, and how to re-irradiate would be discussed. A brief review of other treatment options and comparison with re-irradiation of bone metastases would be performed.