A trial looking at stereotactic body radiotherapy treatment (SBRT) for non small cell lung cancer (LungTech)

This trial showed that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) could help stop non small cell cancer (NSCLC) growing in some people. But it did cause side effects.

Results
The trial was closed earlier than planned. The trial team found it harder than they expected to find people to take part. This is because they had to stop the trial a couple of times to look into the side effects people were having.

A total of 31 people took part. They were between 61 and 89 years old. Most people either smoked or had smoked in the past.

Everyone taking part had SBRT every other day, Monday to Friday. They had 8 treatments (fractions ) altogether. Everyone had a PET scan and CT scan before and after treatment.  

The team looked at the number of people whose cancer had continued to grow 3 years after they joined the trial. They found that the cancer had come back in:

• the area around the cancer in fewer than 1 out of 10 people (7%). Doctors call this local progression. 
• another part of the body near the cancer in fewer than 1 out of 10 people (3%). Doctors call this regional progression.
• another part of the body in 3 out of 10 people (30%). Doctors call this distant progression. 

They found that 15 out of 31 people (48%) were living, 3 years after they started treatment. 

Of the people who died, most were because their cancer got worse. Or they had other medical conditions. The trial team think that 2 people may have died because of side effects from treatment. But it’s difficult to say for sure.

These results are similar to other trials looking at treatments for early stage NSCLC.

Side effects
People had several short term and long term side effects. 

More than 7 out of 10 people (74%) had at least one side effect. Many of the side effects were mild or didn’t last long. But some were more serious. In this trial 5 people (16%) needed treatment in hospital for more serious side effects. 

Short term side effects 
Short term side effects can begin soon after the start of treatment. And can last up to 3 months after finishing treatment. But they often improve a few weeks after the treatment finishes.

The trial team found that:

• 19 out of 31 people (61%) had short term side effects
• 17 people had mild side effects. The most common were a cough and fatigue .
• 2 people had a more serious side effect. This was inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis).

Long term side effects
Long term side effects can begin during treatment and continue for a long time after treatment finishes. But some side effects can start after the end of treatment. This can sometimes be a year or more afterwards. 

The team found that:

• 15 out of 31 people (48%) had long term side effects
• 9 people had mild long term side effects. These included scarring of the lung (fibrosis), shortness of breath, and infection.
• 6 people had more serious long term side effects, including a faster heartbeat (atrial fibrillation), a lung infection, and shortness of breath

Four people developed another cancer while they were taking part in this trial. Two people had lung cancer in a different part of the lung. Another person had kidney cancer and one person had bile duct cancer.

Conclusion
The trial team say that SBRT may stop NSCLC from getting worse. This was for people whose cancer was in the middle of the chest and couldn’t be removed with surgery. But SBRT also caused some serious side effects.

The trial showed the importance of follow up after radiotherapy. This is because it can cause long term side effects.

The team could not draw firm conclusions from this trial because:

• the trial stopped earlier than planned
• fewer people than expected took part
• not everyone had the same tests at the same time 

The team suggested further trials are done, looking at different ways of giving radiotherapy. 

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the reference below. 

Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Centrally Located Inoperable Early-Stage NSCLC: EORTC 22113–08113 LungTech Phase II Trial Results
Antonin Levy and others
Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 2024. Volume 19, Issue 9, Pages 1297-1309.

Where this information comes from
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.