Foreword

Article Outline

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Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) is a rapidly-growing aspect of radiation oncology made possible by advances in target definition, radiation dose delivery, and image guidance of radiation. While we have had the capability for years to provide highly focused therapy to CNS lesions, that capacity was difficult to translate elsewhere in the body because of target mobility. Within the brain, the patient may be rigorously immobilized, scanned, and treated (in a single day, for stereotactic radiosurgery). The difficult aspect of lesions elsewhere is that respiratory variations in target position and day-to-day variability in patient setup contribute to potential errors that previously required a significant margin to ensure that the lesions were properly targeted. Doctors Timmerman and Kavanagh have provided this issue of Current Problems in Cancer to enlighten us about the mechanisms, indications, and data involved with SBRT.

This is not a new therapy. This is an integration of software and hardware advances in (a) imaging, (b) dose delivery, and (c) accuracy determination to finely pinpoint lesions outside the CNS for conventional external beam radiation therapy. These advances are becoming more widely available within the community, and patients are beginning to request its use in their care.

This issue should help us determine where and when SBRT may help them.