Background. Bone metastases are among the most frequent complications of advanced cancers. Palliative radiotherapy regimens vary from single fraction (SFRT) to multiple fraction (MFRT). Objective: to identify prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and factors that influence the choice of radiotherapy regimen for bone metastases. Methods. 582 patients with bone metastases irradiated between 1 January 2014–31 December 2017 were analyzed. OS was calculated by Kaplan–Meier method. Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify factors that influenced OS, and the logistic regression model was used to identify potential predictors of radiotherapy regimen. Results. 1-, 2- and 3- year OS were 36%, 23%, and 15%, respectively. Negative prognostic factors associated with OS were multiple bone metastases (HR = 5.4), poor performance status (PS) (HR = 1.5), and brain metastases (HR = 1.37) (p < 0.01). Spinal metastases were associated with the choice of a MFRT (OR = 2.09). A poor PS (OR = 0.55), lung (OR = 0.49), and urologic primaries (OR = 0.33) were more likely to receive SFRT (p < 0.01). The re-irradiation rates were 0.5% after MFRT and 12% after SFRT (p < 0.01). Conclusions. Patients with longer OS (good PS, single bone metastasis, and no brain metastases) can benefit the most from MFRT, which is less likely to require re-irradiation. SFRT remains a valid choice for patients with a more reserved outcome (poor PS, lung or urologic primaries, multiple bone metastases).

(1) Background: Romania has one of the highest cervical cancer incidence rates in Europe. In Cluj County, the first screening program was initiated in 1998. We aimed to investigate the time trends of cervical cancer incidence in women from Cluj County and to evaluate the data quality at the Cancer Registry. (2) Methods: We calculated time trends of standardized incidence rates in the period 1998–2014 and the Annual Percent Change (APC%). To assess data quality, we used the indicators: mortality/incidence ratio (M/I), percentage of cases declared only at death (DOD%), and percentage of cases with pathological confirmation (PC%). (3) Results: The standardized incidence rate increased steadily, from 23.74 cases/100,000 in 1998, to 32/100,000 in 2014, with an APC% of 2.49% (p < 0.05). The rise in incidence affected both squamous cell carcinoma (APC% 2.49%) (p < 0.05) and cervical adenocarcinoma (APC% 10.54%) (p < 0.05). The M/I ratio was 0.29, DOD% 2.66%, and MC% 94.8%. The last two parameters are within the silver standard concerning data quality. (4) Conclusions. Our study revealed an ascending trend of cervical cancer incidence, more consistent for adenocarcinoma, in the context of a newly introduced screening program and partially due to the improvement of the quality of case reporting at the Cancer Registry from Cluj.

Aim: To identify prognostic factors of survival in patients with brain metastases (BM) and to devise a prognostic score. Patients & methods: In this single-institution retrospective study, we analyzed potential clinical prognostic factors in 1363 patients with BM. Based on the Cox proportional hazard model, we devised a BM score with three classes (score <5, 5–6 and >6). Results: The 1-year overall survival (OS) was 26%. Independent prognostic factors of OS were: age, gender, Karnofski performance status, number of BM, control of primary, presence of extracerebral metastases and type of primary tumor. The 1-year OS was 56% for score <5; 21% for score 5–6 and 4% for score >6 (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The BM score we propose is effective in grouping patients according to their prognosis and can help decision making regarding treatment adjustments.