Patterns of palliative radiation near the end of life: A single-institution retrospective analysis.

9636 Background: The care of patients who receive radiation therapy (RT) at the end of life (EOL) is under scrutiny to ensure effectiveness and value, with many patients not completing RT (Gripp, 2010; Toole, 2012). This retrospective analysis seeks to describe patterns of utilization of palliative RT, including rates of completion of RT offered at the EOL and the use of single fraction RT for bone metastases. Methods: Electronic medical records were used to create a database of 3,383 RT plans for brain, bone, lung, and other metastatic sites in patients treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 9/1/2007-7/15/2012. RT plans without palliative intent were excluded. T-tests and logistic regression compared patient and treatment characteristics between patients who died > 1 month versus ≤ 1 month after their last RT fraction. Results: A total of 983 patients were treated to 1,524 sites, with an average of 1.7 RT sites (SD 1.3) per patient. Of these, 872 (89%) patients had complete records and were included in a...