BACKGROUND: Palliative radiotherapy (PRT) is the eventual requirement in 30-50% of all @entity5 @entity1 . PRT is primarily aimed to relieve @entity158 and prevent/treat collapse or @entity174 in case of bone @entity3 , to reduce @entity4 in @entity1 with cranial @entity3 , and to control distressing symptoms of rapid primary growth. An audit of PRT planned in a busy @entity5 center can help in the characterization of the requirements of the @entity1 and the formulation of institutional policies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 516 @entity1 who received PRT in our regional @entity5 center from January 2012 to December 2012 and whose complete records were available for analysis were selected for this retrospective study. Medical records and radiotherapy files were analyzed to obtain data such as sociodemographic parameters, prescription of PRT, and follow up. Descriptive statistics were evaluated in terms of frequencies and percentages to allow comparisons. RESULTS: Of the 516 @entity1 , 73% @entity1 were male; the median age of the @entity1 receiving PRT was 62 years (range 13-83 years). About 48% (n = 248) @entity1 received PRT at the primary site while rest (52%) were given PRT at the metastatic site. The most common indication of PRT was @entity158 (56.8% cases), followed by cytostatic PRT (19.8%) and raised @entity5835 (12.4%). The median dose prescribed was 30 Gy (range 8-36 Gy) delivered in 1-12 fractions over the duration of 1-18 days. The overall response rate was about 43% at 2 weeks of completion of PRT; the median follow-up of the @entity1 was 154 days (range 9-256 days). The long-term symptom relief at median follow up was 8%. CONCLUSIONS: Good clinical judgment and expertise is required in prescribing correct fractionation schedule to achieve effective symptom palliation with lowest possible cost and inconvenience to the @entity1 and relatives. Hypofractionated radiotherapy is a feasible treatment option in @entity1 with advanced incurable disease to achieve effective palliation.

Analysis of patterns of palliative radiotherapy in north west India: a regional XXXX center experience.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity174 :: ('MESH:D050723', 'Disease') :: ['fracture'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancer'] @entity4 :: ('MESH:D004487', 'Disease') :: ['edema'] @entity5835 :: ('MESH:C566123', 'Disease') :: ['ICT'] @entity3 :: ('MESH:D009362', 'Disease') :: ['metastasis'] @entity158 :: ('MESH:D010146', 'Disease') :: ['pain']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['cancer']
