Effectiveness of stereotactic body radiotherapy in the treatment of inoperable early-stage lung cancer.
BACKGROUND
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Stereotactic body irradiation offers a non-invasive treatment modality for patients with early stage NSCLC who are not amenable to surgery or other invasive approaches because of their poor medical condition.


METHODS
Forty-three inoperable patients with NSCLC were treated with SBRT at our institution. A mean total dose of 30.5 Gy in 1-4 fractions was applied. The median follow-up duration was 14 months (range 6-36 months).


RESULTS
The actuarial survival at two years was 53%: two patients died from cancer progression whereas a further 8 patients died from comorbidities. Acute toxicity was practically absent, with 7 (16.3%) patients suffering from grade 1 symptoms and two from (4.6%) grade II effects. At the time of this report, only 1 patient had grade II and 6 patients (13.9%) grade I chronic symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results compare favourably with recently published studies and confirm that stereotactic radiotherapy has the potential to produce high local control rates with a low risk of lung toxicity in patients not amenable to curative resection. The low grade of side-effects is encouraging for shortening the treatment using a greater dose per fraction.
Scorsetti
M
M
Operative Unit of Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano (MI), Italy. marta.scorsetti@humanitas.it
Navarria
P
P
Facoetti
A
A
Lattuada
P
P
Urso
G
G
Mirandola
A
A
Ferraroli
G M
GM
Alloisio
M
M
Ravasi
G
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D016896:Treatment Outcome