Society for palliative radiation oncology: founding, vision, and report from the Second Annual Meeting

Radiation therapy is well known to provide palliation for a variety of localized cancer symptoms, which can improve patient quality of life and reduce caregiver burden and stressors. Palliative radiation therapy plays critical roles in the management of pain from bone metastases, neurological symptoms from brain metastases or spinal cord compression, and local symptoms caused by compression, mass effect, or local invasion.