In a nutshell
This study wanted to find out how well stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) works in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread to one or two parts of the body (oligometastatic). The study found that SBRT is a good treatment option for these patients.
Some background
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a type of cancer treatment. It involves using many beams of radiation which target the tumor at once from different angles. This works to directly kill the cancer cells. It has been commonly used in treating tumors in the brain. Oligometastatic cancer is cancer that has spread to different areas of the body and has formed tumors in one or two other places. It is not known if SBRT will work well in patients with NSCLC by targeting the tumors in the lungs, especially in patients who have oligometastatic cancer.
Methods & findings
This study had 71 patients with NSCLC. Some of the patients had more than one tumor in the lungs. All of the patients had oligometastatic cancer. All of the patients were treated with SBRT. The patients were followed for an average of 17.6 months.
On average, the patients survived for 30.4 months. Three years after treatment, 54.4% of the patients were still alive. Local control after 3 years was 77.1%.
No serious side effects were noticed.
The bottom line
The study found that stereotactic radiotherapy in patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer worked well, and had no serious side effects.
The fine print
This was a small study. Also, there was no control group receiving a different type of therapy. Further studies are needed.
Published By :
Cancer Medicine
Date :
Jun 27, 2019
