Cancer pain emergencies: is there a role for radiation therapy?

Emergent cancer pain is a difficult entity to manage. Radiation therapy potentially may be used for its treatment. Several key issues must be addressed in patients with emergent cancer pain before initiating radiation. These issues include whether the necessary diagnostic information is available, whether the tumor will respond rapidly to radiation, and whether there are additional patient factors that will affect treatment. If these questions have been addressed, it is more likely that a successful outcome will be obtained if radiation therapy is used for the management of emergent cancer pain.