Outcomes after palliative re-irradiation of spinal metastases

Objective Radiotherapy (RT) effectively palliates symptomatic spinal metastases; however, both radiation myelopathy (RM) and disease progression are concerns following re-irradiation (re-RT). Limited published data suggest a low RM risk if the total biologically effective dose (BED) is ≤135.5 Gy, re-treatment interval is ≥6 months, and each course’s BED is ≤98 Gy. RM risk groups have been proposed; however, few data inform disease and RM outcomes after re-RT respecting these criteria. This study investigates these outcomes following re-RT for spinal metastases after publication of the aforementioned RM criteria.