Radiation therapy remains an indispensable tool in palliative care. However, in the past, in order to achieve the
results needed, palliative radiation therapy took weeks, a span of time which was often too long for terminal patients
to bear. Advances in medical imaging and radiation therapy hardware and software have made possible to deliver
high doses of focal radiation using shortened fractionation schemes. These may range from 1 to 5 fractions,
targeting only the tumor area with optimized protection of normal tissue, which results in minimal toxicity, less
physical demands to the patient and most importantly, more prompt palliative response. A novel radiation therapy
technique, called Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) or Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT), originally
developed and used as primary modality of treatment for many cancers with curative intent, is becoming an
invaluable tool in the palliative care of patients with terminal cancer. In this article, we describe a typical case where
SRS/SBRT demonstrates its value and efficacy and discuss present and future applications of this innovative
technique in the palliative care of patients with terminal cancers