SynthesisJournal of the National Cancer Institute2019
Systematic Review of the Role of Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Bone Metastases.
Synthesis in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global research trends in radiotherapy for bone metastases: a systematic bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Stereotactic Body and Conventional Radiotherapy for Painful Bone Metastases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Systematic review of stereotactic body radiotherapy for nodal metastases.Clinical & experimental metastasis · 2021Pooled it
- Advances in Pharmacologic- and Non-pharmacologic Interventions for Cancer Pain: A Narrative Review.Current treatment options in oncology · 2026Review
- Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Pain Relief of Patients With Spinal Metastasis: A Real-World Analysis.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Differential survival outcomes in upper versus lower extremity metastatic bone disease: a retrospective comparative cohort analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Same-Day Magnetic Resonance-Guided Single-Fraction Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Painful Non-Spine Bone Metastases - A Single-Center Study ("BONE SHOT").Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2025Article
- Cancer Pain: Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Nano-Drug Delivery Systems for Bone Metastases: Targeting the Tumor-Bone Microenvironment.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Article
- Efficacy of innovative systemic treatments in combination with radiotherapy for bone metastases: a GEMO (the European Study Group of Bone Metastases) state of the art.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2025Review
- Radiotherapy and surgery: can this combination be further optimized for patients with metastatic spine disease?The oncologist · 2025Review
- Heterogeneity of study endpoints in stereotactic body radiation therapy studies for bone metastases: A systematic review.Journal of radiosurgery and SBRT · 2025Article
- Article
- Stereotactic radiotherapy for patients with bone metastases: a selected group with low rate of radiation treatment during the last month of life?Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2024Article
- Clinical outcomes of multisite moderate to high dose radiotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma.Precision radiation oncology · 2024Article
- An Update on the Management of Bone Metastases.Current oncology reports · 2024Review
- Practice and principles of stereotactic body radiation therapy for spine and non-spine bone metastases.Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2024Article
- New insights into non-small cell lung cancer bone metastasis: mechanisms and therapies.International journal of biological sciences · 2024Review
- Short-term pain control after palliative radiotherapy for uncomplicated bone metastases: a prospective cohort study.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundStereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) might improve pain and local control in patients with bone metastases compared to conventional radiotherapy, although an overall estimate of these outcomes is currently unknown.
methodsA systematic review was carried out following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were systematically searched to identify studies reporting pain response and local control among patients with bone metastases from solid-organ tumors who underwent SBRT in 1-6 fractions. All studies prior to April 15, 2017, were included. Study quality was assessed by predefined criteria, and pain response and local control rates were extracted.
resultsA total of 2619 studies were screened; 57 were included (reporting outcomes for 3995 patients) of which 38 reported pain response and 45 local control rates. Local control rates were high with pain response rates above those previously reported for conventional radiotherapy. Marked heterogeneity in study populations and delivered treatments were identified such that quantitative synthesis was not appropriate. Reported toxicity was limited. Of the pain response studies, 73.7% used a retrospective cohort design and only 10.5% used the international consensus endpoint definitions of pain response. The median survival within the included studies ranged from 8 to 30.4 months, suggesting a high risk of selection bias in the included observational studies.
conclusionsThis review demonstrates the potential benefit of SBRT over conventional palliative radiotherapy in improving pain due to bone metastases. Given the methodological limitations of the published literature, however, large randomized trials are now urgently required to better quantify this benefit.
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