Effects on survival: thermal ablation vs stereotactic radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer

This article investigated the safety and effectiveness of thermal ablation (TA) compared to stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The authors concluded that both thermal ablation and stereotactic radiation are safe and can improve survival of these patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common kind of lung cancer. Patients with early-stage NSCLC are usually treated with surgical excision. However, surgery is associated with increased adverse complications in most patients who are older and/or have other diseases or conditions. 

Alternative treatment options are TA and SRT. SRT is a type of external radiotherapy which uses a machine outside the body to direct radiation beams at the tumor to destroy it. TA is a procedure which uses extreme heat or cold to remove the cancerous tissue. These methods improve overall survival of patients with NSCLC. However, the effect on overall survival and safety of TA compared to SRT are still under investigation.

This study involved 28,834 patients. 1102 patients were treated with TA and 27,732 patients were treated with SRT. Patients were followed up for 52.4 months.

There was no significant difference in the overall survival (OS; how long a patient survived after treatment) between TA and SRT. OS 1 year after treatment was 85.4% with TA vs 86.3% with SRT. 5-year OS was 24.6% with TA vs 26.1% with SRT.

Having to be readmitted to a hospital was more common in patients treated with TA (3.7%) vs those in the SRT group (0.2%). 

The authors concluded that thermal ablation and stereotactic radiotherapy have similar survival in patients with NSCLC. 

This study was based on medical records. Information might have been missing. This might have changed the results.