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RecruitingNCT05419518Updated Jun 2, 2026

Palliative Dose Escalated Radiation for Painful Non-Spine Bone Metastases and Painful Non-Bone Metas

A Phase 2 interventional study of EXTERNAL BEAM RADIATION in Neoplasm Metastases and Metastases, Neoplasm, sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Recruiting at 7 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-02.

Sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Mar 2023; still recruiting 3 years 7 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
124
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The investigators hypothesize that with dose escalation to 40-50 Gy in ten fractions, the complete pain response rate at one month can be increased to 40-50% in painful non-spinal bone metastases. Additionally, the investigators hypothesize that utilizing a fractionation scheme with an escalated biologically equivalent dose (BED) will result in a higher proportion of participants responding to treatment, and will also lead to more durable responses. Furthermore, the investigators hypothesize that with dose escalation to 40-50 Gy in ten fractions, the complete pain response rate at one month can be increased to 35-45% in painful non-bone metastases

Read the detailed description

The purpose of this study is to prospectively evaluate dose escalation and pain response in patients with painful non-spinal bone metastases and painful non-bone metastases treated with radiation therapy.

Primary Objective:

To evaluate improvement of complete pain response rate in painful non-spine bone metastases and painful non-bone metastases with dose escalated radiation using a ten fraction radiation regimen

Secondary Objectives:

To evaluate best pain response To evaluate mean pain scores To evaluate the duration of pain response To evaluate the changes in quality-of-life following radiation To evaluate the rates of retreatment with radiation secondary to disease or symptom progression To evaluate treatment related toxicity

02

Conditions studied

  • Neoplasm Metastases
  • Metastases, Neoplasm

Keywords

  • Metastase
  • Bone Neoplasms
  • Dose Fractionation, Radiation
03

In context

Neoplasm Metastasis

4,040 studies on the registry are indexed under Neoplasm Metastasis; 886 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 124 is above the median of 50 across 3,268 interventional studies indexed under Neoplasm Metastasis.

Browse Neoplasm Metastasis studies →

Lead sponsor

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the lead sponsor of 506 studies on the registry; 131 are open to participants now.

Of its 39 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 31 (79%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Have provided signed for the trial
  • Aged ≥18 years at the time of informed consent
  • Histologic proof of
  • Radiologic or histologic evidence of bone or non-bone metastases
  • (ECOG) Performance Status of ≥3
  • Pain Score ≥ 3
  • of six months or more
  • Willing and able to comply with all aspects of the protocol
  • A female participant is eligible to participate if she is not pregnant and not breastfeeding
  • Woman of who agrees to follow guidance during the treatment period and for at least 120 days after the last dose of study treatment.
  • A male participant must agree to use contraception during the treatment period and for at least 120 days after the last dose of study treatment.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • from a highly radiosensitive tumor (eg, lymphoma, myeloma, germ cell tumor)
  • Spinal metastasis
  • Active compression of spinal cord/cauda equina
  • Previous RT or SBRT to the same site
  • > 3 sites requiring radiation treatment
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(7)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
124 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Palliative radiation dose escalation

    The prescribed dose is 50 Gy in 10 fractions. The total dose can be reduced to 40 Gy and the total number of fractions can be reduced to 8 fractions in non-spine metastases to achieve the normal tissue constraints.

    Biological: EXTERNAL BEAM RADIATION

  • No intervention
    Therapeutic benefit

    Radiation will be delivered as per protocol. For participants experiencing unacceptable toxicity related to study treatment, yet obtaining therapeutic benefit, participants will be allowed to continue treatment, if well tolerated at the discretion of the investigator.

Interventions

  • BiologicalEXTERNAL BEAM RADIATION

    A minimum of three daily radiation therapy treatments are required in any given week. Any missed radiation treatments will be made up at the end of the treatment schedule, such that the total number of delivered 5 Gy fractions remains ten.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Safety as assessed by number of participants experiencing adverse events

    Number of participants experiencing adverse effects grade three or higher, as defined by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Effects version 5.0 (CTCAE v5.0)

    Time frame: One month

Secondary outcomes

  1. Severity as assessed by number of participants experiencing toxicity and adverse events

    This study will utilize the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) Version 5.0 for toxicity and Adverse Event reporting

    Time frame: One month

Other outcomes

  1. Pain as assessed by number of participants experiencing pain response

    will be measured according to the international consensus guidelines on palliative RT13. Pain assessment will be based on scores in Numerical Rating Pain Scale (NRPS), Visual analog scale (VAS) and Opioid analgesic use (an oral morphine equivalent dose (OMED)) in mg. Complete response is defined as a pain score of 0 on a scale from 0 to 10 and without an increase in OMED medication use. Partial response is defined as a decline of ≥2 points in pain score without analgesic increase or a decline in use of OMED of at least 25% or more from baseline without an increase in pain. Pain progression (PP) is an increase of ≥2 points without a change in OMED use or an increase of 25% or more in OMED compared with baseline with the pain score stable or one point above baseline.

    Time frame: One month

  2. Quality-of-life (QOL) as assessed by the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). Using the 16 item scale

    Quality-of-life (QOL) instruments specific to participants with bone metastases or to those receiving palliative care have been developed in recent years. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) have shown excellent reliability and validity in assessing participants with bone metastases fourteen. BPI will be used for QOL assessment at baseline and one month after treatment.The BPI scale defines pain as follows: Worst Pain Score: 1 - 4 = Mild Pain. Worst Pain Score: 5 - 6 = Moderate Pain. Worst Pain Score: 7 - 10 = Severe Pain.

    Time frame: One month

07

Study locations

6 of 7 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 2, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05419518
Responsible party
Matthew Pierre Deek (Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 15, 2022
Start date
Mar 16, 2023
Primary completion
Apr 1, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 1, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 2, 2026

Study contacts

Matthew P Deek, MD
Contact
Deekmp@cinj.Rutgers.edu
732-253-3941
Salma Jabbour, MD
Contact
jabbousk@cinj.rutgers.edu
732-253-3961
Matthew P Deek, MD
principal investigator · Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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