Advanced Lung Cancer
The primary treatment for more advanced lung cancer patients (stage III) usually consists of chemotherapy and radiotherapy (8,9). There is also evidence that surgery added to the treatment regimen may further increase the disease-free survival (20), although this represents a very aggressive treatment approach with an added risk of complications, and is not considered the standard of care for all stage III patients..
At this time, there is no specific evidence that CyberKnife® radiosurgery improves the outcome in stage III patients, primarily because its use in this setting has not been well evaluated.
Relapse of the cancer in its original area(s) of involvement (known as “local failure”) remains a prominent failure pattern in stage III patients though, as traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy are sometimes insufficient to sterilize all chest disease. As such, one envisions a potential role for CyberKnife® radiosurgery to areas of residual cancer in these patients, potentially providing a benefit comparable to surgical resection in stage III patients (20), ideally under the auspices of a clinical research trial, until its utility in this setting has been proven.
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CT-PET image showing advanced lung cancer
(shaded red)
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