Stereotactic body radiotherapy as salvage treatment for recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer after prior surgery or radiotherapy

benefits in the re-irradiation setting. There were fewer studies on the use of SBRT after prior resection. Following salvage SBRT, after prior resection, the 2-year OS ranged from 56% to 68% in 4 studies (131 patients) reviewed here, while the 2-year LC ranged from 83% to 100% in 3 of these studies. SBRT in the salvage setting after prior resection appeared to be well-tolerated, with toxicity risks comparable to historical patients treated with SBRT alone (i.e., SBRT without prior resection, which is not reviewed here). The data are limited due to the retrospective nature of published studies (all but 4 with <40 patients), with various clinical scenarios (i.e., original NSCLC stage, prior treatment, location of target amenable to salvage SBRT) and a range of SBRT dosing and techniques. More studies are needed to better understand the tumor control, survival and toxicity of SBRT for salvage therapy of NSCLC patients, as well as the potentially prognostic factors that could affect these outcomes.