Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 7, 2025
Treatment of Liver Metastases Using an Internal Target Volume Method for Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy
Published on: May 8, 2018
Long-Term Outcomes From a Phase 2 Trial of Radiofrequency Ablation Combined With External Beam Radiation Therapy for
Cole R Steber1, Ryan T Hughes1, James Urbanic2
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Purpose:
Long-term outcomes after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for medically inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are not well known.
Methods And Materials:
Patients with medically inoperable early-stage NSCLC were enrolled in a prospective single-arm, phase 2 study between June 2007 and October 2008 and were treated with RFA followed by EBRT. Radiation was delivered using hypofractionated radiation therapy (HFRT; 70.2 Gy in 26 fractions) or stereotactic body radiation therapy (54 Gy in 3 fractions).
Results:
Twelve patients were evaluable; 10 patients were treated with HFRT. The cumulative incidence of local progression at 5 years was 16.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0-37.8). Median progression-free survival was 37.8 months (95% CI, 11.1 to not reached) and median overall survival was 53.6 months (95% CI, 21.0 to not reached). There were no mortalities within 30 days after RFA and no grade ≥4 toxicity.
Conclusions:
The combination of RFA with EBRT appears feasible with favorable long-term local control. However, because SBRT alone has similar or better rates of control, we do not recommend routine combined RFA and EBRT.
