Summary

Malignant spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a common cancer-related complication for which the current standard of care is direct decompressive surgery plus postoperative radiation therapy (RT). The optimal modality and schedule for RT have not been determined. The Spinal Cord Compression trial [ICORG 05-03, V6; NCT00968643] therefore tested 2 alternative schedules of RT in patients with MSCC treated with external beam radiation therapy only.