Call for wider use of palliative radiotherapy in terminal cancer

Abstract

Two new studies have shown that a single low dose of radiotherapy provides effective palliative care in patients with terminal cancer. This approach is widely practised in the UK, but it has yet to catch on elsewhere. Dr Ole Steen Nielson from Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, hopes that the positive results of the studies will encourage doctors in other countries to consider the use of radiotherapy for palliation. The results of the studies were presented for the first time at the 15th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology [ Vienna, Austria; September 1996 ].