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A survey of stereotactic body radiotherapy use in the United States
Author(s) -
Pan Hubert,
Simpson Daniel R.,
Mell Loren K.,
Mundt Arno J.,
Lawson Joshua D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.26067
Subject(s) - medicine , radiosurgery , radiation oncology , medical physics , radiation therapy , family medicine , confidence interval , lung cancer , radiology
BACKGROUND: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a technique used to deliver high, ablative doses of radiation in a limited number of fractions to ≥1 extracranial target(s). To the authors' knowledge, the prevalence of SBRT use among radiation oncologists in the United States is unknown. METHODS: A random sample of 1600 American radiation oncologists was surveyed via e‐mail and facsimile (fax) regarding SBRT usage, including year of adoption, motivations, disease sites treated, and common prescriptions used. RESULTS: Of 1373 contactable physicians, 551 responses (40.1%) were received. The percentage of physicians using SBRT was 63.9% (95% confidence interval, 60%‐68%), of whom nearly half adopted it in 2008 or later. The most commonly cited reasons for adopting SBRT were to allow the delivery of higher than conventional radiation doses (90.3%) and to allow retreatment (73.9%) in select patients. Academic physicians were more likely to report research as a motivation for SBRT adoption, whereas physicians in private practice were more likely to list competitive reasons. Among SBRT users, the most common disease sites treated were lung (89.3%), spine (67.5%), and liver (54.5%) tumors. Overall, 76.0% of current SBRT users planned to increase their use, whereas 66.5% of nonusers planned to adopt the technology in the future. CONCLUSIONS: SBRT has rapidly become a widely adopted treatment approach among American radiation oncologists. Further research and prospective trials are necessary to assess the benefits and risks of this novel technology. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.