Would you recommend cardiac radiotherapy for malignant pericardial effusion refractory to pericardial fenestration?
Would you consider using radiotherapy for persistent malignant pericardial effusion? What dose-fractionation would you use, and what would your field look like?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
Yes. I have done this several times and have gotten some reasonable palliative responses. Typically one cannot determine the exact source for the malignant cells, and one presumes that there are tumor deposits throughout the pericardium, in which case the target is the whole heart. This then limits ...