Palliative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: encouraging single-fraction radiotherapy.

Palliative radiotherapy is an effective treatment for the management of symptoms from advanced and metastatic prostate cancer, particularly for relief of pain from bone metastases. In their review, Drs. Boyer, Salama, and Lee concisely examine the data for external beam radiation therapy for uncomplicated bone metastases and cord compression in men with prostate cancer metastatic to bone.[1] The authors are to be commended for such a comprehensive review, which includes a detailed analysis of recent advances in radiopharmaceuticals, including radium-223, and discusses the potential role of stereotactic radiotherapy for patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer.