Beta
146995

Efficacy of Dexamethasone as A Prophylaxis for Radiation-Induced Pain Flare after Palliative Radiotherapy for Symptomatic Bone Metastases

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Background: Bone is the most common site for metastases in cancer and may complicate a wide range of malignancies. Radiotherapy is a successful and efficient method for pain palliation and it can prevent the morbidity of bone metastases. Pain flare is a common event, occurring in almost 40% of the patients that receive palliative radiotherapy. Dexamethasone has shown possibility for prevention of such flare. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of dexamethasone as prophylaxis for radiotherapy-induced pain flare in cases of painful bone metastases. Patients and Methods: Prospective randomized control trial was conducted at the Oncology and Nuclear Therapy Unit, Suez Canal University Hospital. The study involved 129 patients. Patients with painful bone metastases were divided into two groups, Study group received 8 mg dexamethasone first day of radiotherapy then for three days after finishing treatment, while control group received radiotherapy only. Results: The mean age in study group was 60.59 ± 7.64 years in comparison to 59.85 ± 7.02 years in control group. The most common primary sites were breast and prostate cancer. Incidence of pain flare was 8.8% of patients among study group while 19.7% of patients among control group. The difference between both groups was statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Dexamethasone does not play a significant role in reducing pain flare after palliative radiotherapy on painful bone metastases.

DOI

10.21608/ejhm.2021.146995

Keywords

dexamethasone, Pain flare, Radiotherapy, Bone metastases

Authors

First Name

Mai Y.

Last Name

Zaki

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine - Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Soheir E.

Last Name

Abdelmohsen

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine - Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Maha L.

Last Name

Zamzam

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine - Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Marwa A.

Last Name

Suliman

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine - Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Email

marwa_awad2008@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

82

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

21630

Issue Date

2021-01-01

Receive Date

2021-02-07

Publish Date

2021-01-01

Page Start

445

Page End

454

Print ISSN

1687-2002

Online ISSN

2090-7125

Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/article_146995.html

Detail API

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=146995

Order

10

Type

Original Article

Type Code

606

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine

Publication Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Efficacy of Dexamethasone as A Prophylaxis for Radiation-Induced Pain Flare after Palliative Radiotherapy for Symptomatic Bone Metastases

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023