Is Radiation-before-pathology a Feasible Approach in the Palliative Oncology Setting? A Pragmatic Clinical Trial

When a doctor suspects cancer, often a biopsy is taken for testing to confirm if cancer is present. Usually, doctors would wait for the results of a biopsy before delivering radiation, but this may lead to a patient having to wait for a treatment that he or she urgently needs. With long wait times for biopsies in Canada, this may lead to symptoms and risks of complications from cancer in the meantime. Therefore, this study is being done to answer the following question: Is it safe and feasible to deliver radiation before obtaining a biopsy in a carefully selected group of patients who urgently need radiation treatment.