| Theme | How to Manage Distant Metastases from Gastrointestinal Cancer? | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Treatment for Bony Metastases from Gastrointestinal Cancer | |
| Publish Date | 2005/02 | |
| Author | Taiji Kondo | Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Metropolitan Komagome General Hospital |
| [ Summary ] | The standard treatment for bony metastases of gastroenterological cancers is external beam radiation therapy, because it is widely approved to relieve pain produced by bony metastases. Impending fractures and pathological fractures associated with humeral and femoral metastases should be treated with surgery unless the patient is in poor general health or in the terminal stage. Spinal metastases with spinal cord compression may be successfully treated by posterior decompression and spinal instrumentation with additional intraoperative radiation therapy and / or postoperative external beam radiation therapy, if the patient is in relatively good general condition and has over than six months of life expectancy. | |