Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy

Abstract

Stereotactic irradiation is defined as “the administration of high dose concentrated to small target volume with three-dimensional non-coplanar beams during short period”. Stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT) has been realized according to the progress of radiotherapy system, the improvement of set-up accuracy using immobilization and image-guidance technique, and management for respiratory motion. While stereotactic radiosurgery for intracranial lesions has more than 40 years' history, SBRT has at most 15 years' because of its technological difficulties. However, the increasing results of SBRT for small primary or metastatic lung tumors and liver tumors indicated good efficacy and safety, and showed good prognosis of stage I non-small cell lung cancer after SBRT that may be comparable to it after surgery. Here, the outline of SBRT was shown and the reason why it can result in the prognosis.