My son has a very large tumor in his leg, as well as over 20 in his lungs. He is currently on hospice, fighting to regain strength to continue the fight. He is in a lot of pain, and the dr is recommending palliative radiation. His pain is from the tumor in his leg. Anyone ever had that, and are the side effects bad? He is afraid of diminishing the quality of life that he still has. But the painkillers are doing that as well. He is also looking for clinical trials, He did one at MD Anderson, but it quit working.
There is microwave radiation therapy but I don't know if anybody uses it in the US:
Here is an article about palliative radiotherapy that may help get an idea of the possible side effects and outcomes:
http://smj.sma.org.sg/4912/4912a6.pdf
Other possible palliative local treatments to look into are isolated limb perfusion, thermal ablation and cryoablation.
My husband did palliative radiation for a tumor in his hip bone that was causing him tremendous pain and mobility issues. He was on hospice at the time. It definitely helped him with his pain and he saw very little side effects. He was on steroids and all of the other pain meds at the time. It gave him some relief for which I was thankful.
My mother had palliative radiation as well. The pain was reduced and it was a big relief at least for a few months. Now she has new pain again and we will go to consult with a doctor again about radiation options. The doses were not very high so the effect wasn't extremely bad. She just felt weak after the therapy.
Thanks for the information.