Most men are receiving significantly more radiation therapy than needed to manage bone pain caused by advanced prostate cancer, according to a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
After reviewing 2006-2009 Medicare data on more than 3,000 men with advanced prostate cancer, researchers found only 3% were receiving the appropriate radiation doses for pain (JAMA, October 9, 2013, Vol. 310:14, pp. 1501-1502).
Despite continued evidence that only one radiation fraction, or treatment, is needed to control pain, more than half of the men reviewed had received more than 10 fractions.
