451 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Conti et al. (eds.), CyberKnife NeuroRadiosurgery,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50668-1_39
Re-irradiation of Spinal Metastases
Emma M. Dunne, Timothy K. Nguyen, Jay Detsky,
Mitchell Liu, Simon S. Lo, and Arjun Sahgal
39.1 Introduction
It is estimated that 40% of all patients with can-
cer will develop metastatic disease to the spine
[1]. Local control (LC) is important given the
increased risk of debilitating complications asso-
ciated with progression, including neurological
compromise and spinal cord compression upon
disease progression. Though conventional exter-
nal beam radiation therapy (cEBRT) can effec-
tively palliate painful bone metastases at doses of
8 Gy in a single fraction (SF) or 20–30 Gy in mul-
tiple fractions (MF), controversy still reigns over
the optimal dose fractionation to achieve durable
pain control in this setting [2]. Randomised tri-
als of dose fractionation schedules with cEBRT
have reported rates of pain relief ranging between
50 and 85% and complete response rates to pain
of up to 20%. Caution is warranted interpret-
ing these results due to the different defnitions
of pain relief and pain measurement scales used
throughout the trials. Notably, reirradiation rates
of up to 42% and 24% with SF and MF regi-
mens respectively were reported due to persistent
or recurrent pain [3, 4]. In an era where novel
targeted therapies and improved systemic treat-
ment have been shown to extend patient survival,
the role of durable salvage reirradiation is gain-
ing traction with a particular focus on determin-
ing the optimal dose and radiotherapy delivery
platform.
39.2 The Evidence
for Reirradiation
In 2014, the Symptom Control (SC) phase III ran-
domised controlled non-inferiority trial led by the
Canadian Clinical Trials Group (CCTG) sought
to compare the effcacy of 8 Gy in a SF or 20 Gy
in MF (1:1 randomisation) in a group of patients
who previously received palliative cEBRT for
painful bone metastases. Of the 850 patients ran-
domly assigned, 28% had metastatic disease to
the spine. Previous spine cEBRT doses included
6, 7, or 8 Gy in a SF or MF regimens includ-
ing 4.5 Gy × 4 fractions and 5 Gy × 5 fractions
E. M. Dunne (*)
BC Cancer—Vancouver Centre,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
T. K. Nguyen · J. Detsky · A. Sahgal
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre and University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada
e-mail: timothy.nguyen@lhsc.on.ca;
jay.detsky@sunnybrook.ca;
Arjun.Sahgal@sunnybrook.ca
M. Liu
Department of Radiation Oncology, BC Cancer—
Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
e-mail: mliu@bccancer.bc.ca
S. S. Lo
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
e-mail: simonslo@uw.edu
39