Palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases: short-course or long-course?

For patients of bony metastases, the survival time becomes much longer as the anti-tumor strategies developed. External beam radiotherapy is effective for pain-relieving. The appropriate fractionation scheme for the most effective regimen of palliative radiotherapy to treat bone metastases is still in debate. This article reviews the prospective randomized trials comparing short-course or long-course regimens of palliative radiotherapy for painful bone metastases.