Effects of pamidronate use on the palliative radiotherapy of bone metastases

Abstract

To analyze the impact of pamidronate (P) use on results of the palliative radiation treatment (RT) of bone metastases, 47 patients with bone metastases were treated with P+RT (19 patients) or RT alone (27 patients). RT was delivered with a standard scheme (10x3 Gy). 90 mg monthly-infusions of P, which started from the day of RT and continued up to 9 months, were given in the P+RT group. After 24 weeks of follow-up, changes in the pain scores, quality of life index, ALP, tumor marker and Bone Mineral Density levels of whole skeleton significantly improved from base line in the P+RT group compared to RT alone group. Median time to local progression and median time to new bone metastases were advantageously delayed in the P+RT group.