{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T18:08:45Z","timestamp":1780596525881,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Radiotherapy (RT) is a cornerstone of cancer management, substantially improving local tumor control and overall survival. However, a subset of patients fail to complete the prescribed RT course. Identifying the factors associated with treatment termination is essential to enhancing cancer care delivery and patient outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n This retrospective, single-center analysis included 10039 patients who underwent RT between January 2020 and December 2024. Patients who terminated treatment before completion were identified in institutional RT records. Demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment intent, and reasons for termination were primarily evaluated using descriptive statistical analyses, with exploratory comparative analyses performed between curative- and palliative-intent groups.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n Between 01\/01\/2020 and 12\/31\/2024, RT was terminated in 297\/10039 patients (2.96%). The most leading causes of termination was deterioration in performance status (143 patients, 48.1%). Of these, 170 patients (57.2%) had been treated with palliative intent. Lung cancer (96 patients, 32.3%) was the most frequent primary diagnosis, while the brain (92 patients, 31%) was the most commonly irradiated site. The median number of prescribed fractions was 13 (range: 2\u201344), and patients completed a median of 51.6% (range: 5\u201393%) of these fractions before termination. The most common reason was deterioration in performance status (48.1%). Treatment termination rates were significantly higher in palliative cases compared with curative cases (6.13% [170\/2,772] vs. 1.75% [127\/7,267]; \u03c7\u00b2\u2009=\u2009134.4; p\u2009<\u20090.001). Relative risk analysis indicated that palliative-intent patients had a 3.50-fold higher risk of treatment termination. Performance deterioration was more frequent in the palliative group (72.4% vs. 27.3%; p\u2009<\u20090.001). Treatment-related toxicity (grade III-IV) occurred predominantly in curative-intent patients (88.9% vs. 11.1%; p\u2009<\u20090.001).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n Most RT terminations occurred among patients with poor performance status and advanced disease. These findings suggest that multidisciplinary supportive care may be relevant and should be evaluated in future prospective studies.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0350496","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T17:27:33Z","timestamp":1780594053000},"page":"e0350496","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Treatment terminations during radiation therapy: A retrospective descriptive single-center 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Baran","family":"Guler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ozge","family":"At\u0131lla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sumeyra","family":"Can","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0350496.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101784","DOI":"10.1016\/j.adro.2025.101784","article-title":"Factors associated with early discontinuation of radiation therapy: an analysis of the national cancer database","volume":"10","author":"J Yin","year":"2025","journal-title":"Adv Radiat Oncol"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0350496.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3603","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm13123603","article-title":"Discontinuation of palliative brain radiotherapy in patients with brain 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robust predictors","volume":"18","author":"C Nieder","year":"2023","journal-title":"Radiat Oncol"},{"issue":"17","key":"pone.0350496.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3018","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers16173018","article-title":"Palliative thoracic radiotherapy in the era of modern cancer care for NSCLC","volume":"16","author":"L K\u0119pka","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cancers (Basel)"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref007","first-page":"113","article-title":"Treatment interruptions and discontinuation in patients receiving radiotherapy \u00b1 targeted therapy: single-institution analysis","volume":"19","author":"P Konnerth","year":"2024","journal-title":"Radiat Oncol"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref008","first-page":"100633","article-title":"Impact of palliative radiotherapy on health-related quality of life in advanced cancer patients","volume":"41","author":"ML Nitsche","year":"2023","journal-title":"Clin Transl Radiat Oncol"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref009","first-page":"123","article-title":"Efficacy of palliative hemostatic radiotherapy for tumor bleeding: single-institution analysis","volume":"200","author":"E Meixner","year":"2024","journal-title":"Strahlenther Onkol"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref010","first-page":"3018","article-title":"Prognostic factors in patients receiving palliative radiotherapy: a systematic review","volume":"16","author":"A Tam","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cancers (Basel)"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref011","first-page":"128","article-title":"Practice patterns of palliative radiotherapy for advanced cancer: multi-institutional analysis","volume":"23","author":"R Mehra","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Palliat Care"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref012","first-page":"3205","article-title":"Palliative local radiotherapy for advanced squamous disease: a retrospective cohort","volume":"41","author":"C Staackmann","year":"2021","journal-title":"Anticancer Res"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104685","DOI":"10.1016\/j.canrad.2025.104685","article-title":"State of the art: how to avoid unnecessary radiotherapy","volume":"29","author":"JC Faivre","year":"2025","journal-title":"Cancer Radiother"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref014","first-page":"260","article-title":"Prognostic indicators and outcomes for non-completion in palliative RT for spinal metastasis","volume":"13","author":"R Tokiya","year":"2024","journal-title":"Ann Palliat Med"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref015","article-title":"Evaluating causal effects on time-to-event outcomes in an RCT in oncology with treatment discontinuation","author":"V Ballerini","year":"2023","journal-title":"arXiv"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref016","unstructured":"ClinicalTrials.gov Analysis Team. Analysis of discontinued radiotherapy trials registered between 2014\u20132024: Radiotherapy Trials Discontinuation Study. 2025."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350496.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1186\/s12885-024-12383-7","article-title":"Influence of radiotherapy interruption on esophageal cancer with intensity-modulated radiotherapy: a retrospective study","volume":"24","author":"Y Mou","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Cancer"},{"key":"pone.0350496.ref018","first-page":"1345","article-title":"Treatment interruption definitions and clinical outcomes in radiotherapy: methodology and data from a national cohort","volume":"24","author":"BM Shand","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Cancer"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350496","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T17:27:38Z","timestamp":1780594058000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350496"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Satyajeet","family":"Rath","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"references-count":18,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350496","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]}}}