Purpose: To assess the clinical results in terms of local control, toxicity, failure pattern and toxicity of SBRT in oligometastatic patients with inoperable lung metastases.
Methods: Forty-four patients were treated (53 metastases). Dose regimen: 5 × 12 Gy (66 %), 8 × 7.5 Gy (20.8 %) and 10 × 5 Gy (13.2 %). Response was assessed using PET/CT at 6 months after SBRT.
Results: Local control at 1 and 2 years was 86.7 %. Seventy-five percent of local failures had received a BED <105 Gy. After a median follow-up of 13.3 months, 25 % experienced distant progression. Overall survival at 1 and 2 years was 86.7 and 60.4 %, and cancer-specific survival was 95.3 and 75.2 %, respectively. Grade 2 toxicity was 6.8 %. There was no grade 3-4 toxicity.
Conclusion: SBRT is effective and safe. The main failure pattern is distant progression. The selection of patients with a high probability of remaining oligometastatic is crucial for the efficiency of SBRT, both clinically and in terms of resources.