Palliative radiotherapy (RT) is an important tool used to relieve symptoms and to improve, maintain or delay deterioration of quality of life in patients with little or no chance of cure. It is estimated that 14% of cancer patients should have palliative radiotherapy as their first course of radiation (1) and that 40-50% of all radiation courses are given with palliative intent (2). To monitor the potential for avoidable harm, 30-day mortality (30DM) following palliative radiation was recommended as a possible quality indicator and the...

All radiotherapy episodes delivered in two reginal radiotherapy centres in Queensland Australia between June 2018 and September 2020, were identified using our existing Radiation Oncologist (RO) Portal system and MOSAIQ . Palliative treatments to both the primary and/or metastatic sites of solid organ malignancies in all adult patients were included. stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatments were excluded. Where palliative treatments were delivered to multiple anatomical sites with overlapping treatment dates, these were classed as a single episode and the fractionation allocated to this event...

There were 408 patients who received palliative radiation. Of these 119 underwent two or more episodes. The total number of palliative episodes delivered was 591.The median age was 72 years, 65.5% were male, the most common primary diagnosis was prostate cancer (30%). The overall 30-day mortality was 8.4% within our study, it was slightly higher in patients with the primary diagnosis of lung cancer (12.6%) and head and neck cancer (15%). 30 day mortality for 1, 2-5, 6-10 or more than 10 fraction treatments was...

30DM has a significant value in assessing departmental palliative radiotherapy outcomes. In this study, the mortality rate was 8.4% which is within the suggested quality indicator which demonstrates appropriate selection of patients. Demonstrating achievement of important quality indicators in new regional radiotherapy centres helps to provide reassurance that these centres provide increased access to quality radiotherapy helping to address a critical unmet need.

1. Jacob S, Wong K, Delaney GP, Adams P, Barton MB: Estimation of an optimal utilisation rate for palliative radiotherapy in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Clinical Oncology. 2010. 22:56-64 2. Wiliams MV, Drinkwater KJ: Geographical variation in radiotherapy services across the UK and effect of deprivation. Clinical Oncology 2010. 21:431-440 3. Spencer K, Morris E, Dugdale E, Newsham A,Turner R, Montefiore, D, et al: 30 day mortality in adult palliative radiotherapy- A retrospective population based study 0f 14972 treatment episodes. Radiother Oncol. 2015. 115 (2):...