Palliative radiation therapy for advanced gastrointestinal cancer.

Patients with locally advanced disease can have significant local symptoms. The most common symptoms from local extension are pain, bleeding (hematemesis, melena) and obstruction (dysphagia, vomiting). These can cause a significant impact on a patient's quality of life. Radiation therapy is used to control these symptoms with modern 3-dimensional conformal techniques or brachytherapy. The aim of this study was therefore to review the outcome of palliative radiation therapy in patients with symptomatic locally advanced or recurrent gastrointestinal cancer.