Have a patient with this problem. Recent article goes over an option.
J Radiat Res (Tokyo). 2010 Mar 25;51(2):131-6. Epub 2009 Nov 23.
Radiological response and clinical outcome in patients with femoral bone metastases after radiotherapy.
Harada H, Katagiri H, Kamata M, Yoshioka Y, Asakura H, Hashimoto T, Furutani K, Takahashi M, Sakahara H, Nishimura T. abstract here full free article here
- 90 patients
- 12 died within 30 days
- median radiation dose was 30 Gy
- 1/2 obtained pain relief for at least 3 months
- 15% required surgery eventually
- Their conclusion – “Our data suggest that radiotherapy can enable metastatic bone healing and avoid surgery in many lesions.”
Comment – my heart goes out to those people..