Clinical practice and outcomes of palliative radiation therapy in pediatric oncology patients: An international comparison of experiences from two distinct countries and health care systems

Clinical practice and outcomes of palliative radiation therapy in pediatric oncology patients: An international comparison of experiences from two distinct countries and health care systems

Rao A D; Figueiredo M L S; Yegya-Raman N; Sehgal S; Chen Q; Alcorn S R; Chen M J; Ladra M; Villar R; Terezakis S A

Radiotherapy and Oncology

2019

anorexia; article; bradycardia; brain metastasis; cancer palliative therapy; cancer radiotherapy; cancer survival; child; childhood cancer/rt [Radiotherapy]; clinical outcome; clinical practice; cohort analysis; follow up; human; leukemia/rt [Radiotherapy]; lymphoma/rt [Radiotherapy]; major clinical study; mucosa inflammation; neuroblastoma/rt [Radiotherapy]; opiate/dt [Drug Therapy]; opiate/pv [Special Situation for Pharmacovigilance]; osteosarcoma/rt [Radiotherapy]; pain/dt [Drug Therapy]; Palliative radiation therapy; Palliative therapy; pediatric patient; Pediatric radiation therapy; preschool child; priority journal; radiation dermatitis; radiation dose fractionation; radiation induced neoplasm; rectum hemorrhage; treatment outcome; treatment response; tumor growth

Background and purpose: This study describes clinical outcomes of palliative radiation therapy (RT)for children treated in distinct health-care environments-the US where there is advanced integration of palliative resources and Brazil, a country in the process of developing provisions for pediatric palliative care. Methods and materials: Palliative RT cases of pediatric oncology patients aged <=21-years from 2010 to 2016 in two Brazil-based and one US-based (Johns Hopkins Hospital, JHH)academic centers were reviewed in this study. Result(s): Eighty-eight pediatric patients were treated to 131 lesions with palliative RT. Forty-nine patients from the JHH cohort comprised 84 cases and 39 patients from the Brazil cohort comprised 46 cases. The most common indication for palliative RT was pain (55% overall, 39% Brazil, 63% JHH). Sixty-seven percent of patients experienced a complete (CR)or partial response (PR)to palliative RT, 12% reported stable symptoms (SS), and 22% reported progressive symptoms (PS). The median survival from the end of palliative RT was 3.6 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.3-4.8 months). When treated with palliative RT for pain, 83% of patients experience CR/PR, facilitating reduction or discontinuation of opiates in 46% of these patients. Conclusion(s): Despite different practices, the clinical results using palliative RT for pediatric patients treated in two unique healthcare environments demonstrated it is an effective tool for pediatric oncology patients across systems. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

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