Radiotherapy for painful benign skeletal disorders: Results of a retrospective clinical quality assessment

PURPOSE: The aim of this retrospective clinical quality assessment was to evaluate the efficacy of low-dose radiotherapy (RT) for painful benign skeletal disorders. METHODS: Patients with different painful benign skeletal disorders (arthrosis and enthesopathies) were recruited for this retrospective clinical quality assessment between January 2014 and December 2015. RT was applied with a linear accelerator. Single doses of 0.5 Gy (total dose 3.0–5.0 Gy) were used. Pain was measured before and immediately after RT (early response) by a 10-point visual analogue scale (VAS). We defined a VAS score of 0–2 as a good response. Pain relief was measured during follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 598 evaluable patients (394 females, 204 males) with a mean age of 61.4 years (range 33–81 years) were recruited. The median VAS score was 7.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 2) before treatment and 5.0 (IQR 4) upon completion of RT (p < 0.001). A good response was achieved upon completion of RT in 83 patients (13.9%), with a median follow-up of 38 months (range 29–47 months) in 373 patients (62.4%; p < 0.001). In general, RT had a better effect on enthesopathies than on arthrosis. CONCLUSION: Low-dose RT is a very effective treatment for the management of painful benign skeletal disorders. Due to the delayed onset of analgesic effects, low-dose RT results in significantly improved long-term efficacy compared to the results immediately after RT. These findings confirm the results of other retrospective, prospective, and randomized trials.