Following past studies, stereotactic radiotherapy has become standard practice for stage I non-small cells lung cancer in patients not being able to undergo surgery. We aimed at reviewing over a three-year period the evolution of patients treated with this modality, the estimated survival based on a three-year record at 1 and 2 years, and cancer-related mortality.

The number of patients treated with lung stereotactic radiotherapy from January 2014 to December 2016 was retrieved from the department radiotherapy data. Treatment was performed according to the stereotactic radiotherapy UK consortium guidelines. Almost all patients were scanned with a 4D CT, except those whose breathing could not allow to, and treated with a Truebeam^®. The regimen used were eight fractions of 7Gy, five fractions of 11Gy, three fractions of 18Gy. An overall estimated analysis based on a three-year record was performed using the Kaplan–Meier method. An additional analysis identified cancer-related mortality.

Seventy-seven patients who had stereotactic radiotherapy were identified. Median age was 78. Our data shows an increasing trend for lung stereotactic radiotherapy : 21, 24 and 32 patients were treated respectively in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Out of 77 patients, 63 were alive at the time of analysis - January 2017. Five out of 14 deaths were lung cancer-related, 7 out of 14 due to another cancer or systemic condition and 2 out of 14 were not specified. Primary was controlled in 75 out of 77 patients. Estimated survival at one year was 85.4 % [93.6–77.0] and 72.9 [87.5–64.6] at two years.

The increase in number of patients treated for stage I non-small cells lung cancer with stereotactic radiotherapy may be explained by the growing experience with this modality, which is well tolerated and with minor side effects. These numbers could also account for a shift toward treatment rather than active surveillance. In addition, excellent primary tumor control and low cancer-related mortality are promising for the development of this modality.