Stereotactic radiosurgery for the treatment of lung neoplasm: experience in 100 consecutive patients.
BACKGROUND
Surgical resection is the standard of care for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer or selected patients with pulmonary metastases. Stereotactic radiosurgery may offer an alternative option for high-risk patients who are not surgical candidates. We report our initial experience with stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of lung neoplasm in 100 consecutive patients.


METHODS
Patients who were medically inoperable were offered stereotactic radiosurgery. Thoracic surgeons evaluated all patients, placed fiducials, and performed treatment planning in collaboration with radiation oncologists. Initially, a median dose of 20 Gy prescribed to the 80% isodose line was administered in a single fraction, and this was subsequently increased to a total of 60 Gy in three fractions. The primary end point evaluated was overall survival.


RESULTS
We treated 100 patients (median age, 70 years; 51 men, 49 women) with stereotactic radiosurgery: 46 (46%) with primary lung neoplasm, 35 (35%) with recurrent cancer, and 19 (19%) with pulmonary metastases. The median follow-up was 20 months. The median overall survival was 24 months. Local recurrence occurred in 25 patients. The probability of 2-year overall survival was 50% for the entire group, 44% for primary lung cancer, 41% for recurrent cancer, and 84% for metastatic cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Our initial experience indicates that stereotactic radiosurgery has reasonable results in these high-risk patients. Resection continues to remain the standard treatment; however, stereotactic radiosurgery may offer an alternative in high-risk patients. Further prospective studies with different dose schema are needed to evaluate the efficacy of stereotactic radiosurgery.
Heart, Lung, and Esophageal Surgery Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
Arjun
A
Pennathur
James D
JD
Luketich
Dwight E
DE
Heron
Matthew J
MJ
Schuchert
Steven
S
Burton
Ghulam
G
Abbas
William E
WE
Gooding
Peter F
PF
Ferson
Cihat
C
Ozhasoglu
Sebastien
S
Gilbert
Rodney J
RJ
Landreneau
Neil A
NA
Christie
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016634:Radiosurgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies