Skip Navigation

Easing the pain of spinal metastases

When you gave the gift of Supporting People with Metastatic Cancer, you enabled Dr Arjun Sahgal to give people with spinal metastases a better quality of life.

When cancer spreads (or metastasizes) from its original location in the body to the spine, it can cause extreme pain. Doctors often use conventional low dose radiation therapy to treat these tumours for symptom control, but it generally doesn’t eliminate the discomfort.

A clinical trial, conducted by the CCS-funded Canadian Cancer Trials Group and led by Dr Arjun Sahgal, tested an innovative approach that uses fewer — but higher — doses of high-precision radiation therapy. With this new approach, more than twice as many people (versus those receiving conventional radiation therapy) experienced a complete reduction in pain; and they remained pain-free for as long as six months.

People who were treated with this method also reported greater satisfaction with their care, especially as they only needed to visit a cancer centre twice instead of five times, which also left them in a better financial position. 

These practice-changing findings that your generosity set into motion are poised to define how people with painful secondary spinal tumours are cared for around the world.

Thank you. Your CCS Gift is helping people with spinal metastases live without pain and have a better quality of life.