Clinical results of stereotactic body radiotherapy for Stage I small-cell lung cancer: a single institutional experience

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for Stage I small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). From April 2003 to September 2009, a total of eight patients with Stage I SCLC were treated with SBRT in our institution. In all patients, the lung tumors were proven as SCLC pathologically. The patients' ages were 58-84 years (median: 74). The T-stage of the primary tumor was T1a in two, T1b in two and T2a in four patients. Six of the patients were inoperable because of poor cardiac and/or pulmonary function, and two patients refused surgery. SBRT was given using 7-8 non-coplanar beams with 48 Gy in four fractions. Six of the eight patients received 3-4 cycles of chemotherapy using carboplatin (CBDCA) + etoposide (VP-16) or cisplatin (CDDP) + irinotecan (CPT-11). The follow-up period for all patients was 6-60 months (median: 32). Six patients were still alive without any recurrence. One patient died from this disease and one died from another disease. The overall and disease-specific survival rate at three years was 72% and 86%, respectively. There were no patients with local progression of the lesion targeted by SBRT. Only one patient had nodal recurrence in the mediastinum at 12 months after treatment. The progression-free survival rate was 71%. No Grade 2 or higher SBRT-related toxicities were observed. SBRT plus chemotherapy could be an alternative to surgery with chemotherapy for inoperable patients with Stage I small-cell lung cancer. However, further investigation is needed using a large series of patients.