The feasibility and efficacy of stereotactic body radiotherapy for centrally-located lung tumors.

AIM To investigate the toxicity and outcome of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for centrally-located lung tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective review was conducted in 45 consecutive patients with centrally-located lung tumors who underwent SBRT. The incidence rate of adverse events (AEs) and outcome after SBRT for primary (32 patients), metastatic and recurrent (13 patients) lung tumors were evaluated. RESULTS The median follow-up period was 21.2 months. Except for one patient who had grade 4 gastrointestinal toxicity, no patient exhibited any grade 4-5 AE. The 2-year overall survival of patients with primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was significantly better than that of those with metastatic and recurrent tumors of 69.4% vs. 46.9% (p=0.04). The local control rates at two years, for patients in the NSCLC and the metastatic/recurrent groups were 70.9% and 100%, respectively (p=0.98). CONCLUSION SBRT provided effective treatment for centrally-located lung tumors with tolerable toxicity.