1838-1839 / 1983
Effectiveness of palliative RT
Condition
NNT
Painful bone metastases
Partial relief
1.25
Complete relief
2.5
Hemoptysis
1.25
Chest pain (lung
cancer)
1.43
Superior vena cava
syndrome
1.3
Brain metastases
1.67
Spinal cord
compression
1.5
•
Some of these are over
estimates
•
Some are wrong
•
But the “pooled” NNT for
palliative RT remains good