Stereotactic body radiotherapy for primary and oligometastatic cancers

Conventional treatment of primary and metastatic cancer lesions has used multiple small doses of radiation spread out over several weeks. Recent technologic advances that improve patient positioning and dose delivery have enabled the development of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), which delivers ablative doses of radiation to the lesion while minimizing dose to the surrounding normal tissues and is completed in just one to five treatment sessions. SBRT has been used for the definitive treatment of early-stage lung cancer and other primary tumors, with study results showing good local control with acceptable toxicities. SBRT has also been used as a treatment for oligometastatic disease, with study results suggesting this modality offers a potential means to cure cancer in a subset of patients with limited metastases and has acceptable toxicity. Thus, SBRT is becoming more widely used in the definitive treatment of primary and metastatic cancers.