ASTRO membership survey on palliative and supportive care
Just published in PRO! Members of SPRO and ASTRO have completed a national membership survey of radiation oncologists on Palliative and Supportive Care in the United States. Attitudes of Radiation Oncologists Toward Palliative and Supportive Care in the United States: Report on National Membership Survey by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Randy L. Wei, MD, PhD, Malcolm D. Mattes, MD, James Yu, MD, Adrienne Thrasher, Hui-kuo Shu, MD, Harald Paganetti, PhD,Jennifer De Los Santos, MD, Bridget Koontz, MD, Christopher Abraham, MD, Tracy Balboni, M Background/Purpose Radiation oncologists are frequently involved in providing palliative and supportive care (PSC) for patients with advanced cancers through delivery of palliative radiation. Whether they are confident in their ability to assess and initiate treatments for pain, non-pain, and psychosocial distress is unknown. The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) surveyed its practicing members in the United States on self-assessment of their primary PSC skills, and access [...]
Single versus multiple session stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastasis: the risk-benefit ratio.
Single versus multiple session stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastasis: the risk-benefit ratio. Redmond KJ, Sahgal A, Foote M, Knisely J, Gerszten PC, Chao ST, Suh JH, Sloan AE, Chang EL, Machtay M, Lo SS. Future Oncol. 2015;11(17):2405-15. doi: 10.2217/fon.15.160. Epub 2015 Sep 15. PMID: 26369361
Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) National Palliative Radiotherapy Taskforce Update
The Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) National Palliative Radiotherapy Taskforce formed in 2012 with the aim of researching and advancing palliative care within the VHA. The taskforce has since expanded and made meaningful progress. Through a series of survey studies, the group has measured practice patterns across the 39 (soon to be 40) VHA facilities that provide radiation therapy to Veterans with cancer at the end of life. Efforts have focused on evaluating prescriptions that are preferred for the palliation of bone metastases, spinal cord compression, and brain metastases. Studies have also evaluated the availability of palliative care services and advanced radiation technologies within the VHA for management of both palliative and definitive cases. A number of abstracts and papers have resulted from this work: Gutt et al. “Management of Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression among Veterans Health Administration Radiation Oncologists.” American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology, San Antonio, TX, Oct 2015. [...]
SPRO Annual Meeting 2015 at ASTRO in San Antonio
On October 18, the Society for Palliative Radiation Oncology (SPRO) held its annual meeting in San Antonio, TX, in conjunction with the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting. Dr. Stephen Lutz welcomed everyone to the meeting and reviewed the initiatives that have been undertaken since SPRO was formally introduced one year before. He then introduced speakers in three categories: Research, Education, and Advocacy. For clinical research, Dr. Chad Tang from MD Anderson presented the Prognostic Index for Spine Metastases (PRISM), a measure that aims to categorize patients with excellent or poor prognosis following stereotactic spine radiosurgery and to help identify the rationale for single or multiple fraction regimens. The PRISM score categorizes gender, Karnofsky Performance Score, prior surgery, previous radiotherapy to the affected site, number of organ system involved with metastasis, solitary versus multiple spine metastases, and time from diagnosis to discovery of metastasis. The PRISM model allows [...]
Recently Published Articles
We will be publishing recently published articles of interest to our membership.