Page 104 - Predicting survival in patients with spinal bone metastasesL

CHAPTER VII
statistically significant. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.0, Armonk, NY and R version 2.18.
RESULTS
A total of 997 patients were treated with radiotherapy for spinal bone metastases during the study period. Of these, 236 patients underwent a CT scan within two months before starting treatment. Patients without clinical and/or radiological follow-up were excluded and a total of 110 patients remained eligible for analysis.
Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the study population. Fifty-nine patients (54%) were male and the mean age at the start of treatment was 60.4 years (SD ± 13.8 years). The Karnofsky Performance Status was normal (100%-80%) in 59 patients (54%) and 107 patients (97%) had no, or only minor motor and sensory deficit. The prognostic category for survival according to the Bollen model was good in six patients (5%), moderate in 28 patients (26%), poor in 57 patients (52%) and very poor in 14 patients (13%). Thirty-six patients (33%) were treated with a single fraction of 8 Gy, 26 patients (24%) with two fractions of 8 Gy and 48 patients (43%) were treated with more than two fractions, totaling a dose of 24 Gy or more.
Figure 1. Cumulative incidence of adverse events and death for the entire cohort
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