Post-Operative RadioTheRApy In surgical Treated bone metastases v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Post-operative radiotherapy in surgically treated bone metastases (PORTRAIT) – a multi-centre, randomised controlled trial
IRAS ID
333375
Contact name
Jonathan Stevenson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
About 70% of patients with advanced prostate or breast cancer and a third of patients with advanced lung, kidney or thyroid cancer develop bone metastases. Bone metastases occur when a cancer starts elsewhere in the body but then spreads into a person’s bones. Bone metastases often produce pain and cause the bone to become weakened or break. Surgery is carried out to strengthen or replace the affected bone. After surgery, patients often receive radiotherapy as it is thought to reduce pain, improve quality of life, and reduces the chance of needing more surgery. Patients need extra hospital appointments to have this treatment. However, radiotherapy can have side effects such as tiredness, sudden pain or bowel disturbances and can delay patients getting newer, more effective treatments. Despite its widespread use, there is no good quality evidence, showing radiotherapy improves pain and quality of life or reduces the need for further surgery. It is therefore very important to find out if radiotherapy after surgery does benefit patients, and if it is good value for money or routine care and only offering radiotherapy treatment if/when it really is needed is better. The PORTRAIT trial aims to answer this question.
350 eligible patients aged 18 years and over, who have had surgery for a weakened or broken arm or leg due to cancer will be take part in the study. They will be randomly allocated to receive either radiotherapy 4-10 weeks after their surgery or routine care and only offered radiotherapy if their oncologist thinks it is needed.
We will record patient’s pain levels, quality of life, ability to do daily tasks and details about any radiotherapy treatment they receive. We will also find out the cost of the treatments relative to their benefits to find out which is better value for money for the NHS.REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/NE/0124
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion