Introduction:Stereotactic body (or ablative) radiotherapy (SBRT/SABR) is now a
guideline-recommended treatment for medically inoperable patients with
peripherally-located, stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and for
medically operable patients who decline surgery. The 5-year local failure
rate after SBRT is about 10% and in highly selected patients, surgery has
been used as a salvage therapy. We performed a systematic review to address
the feasibility, safety, and outcome of salvage surgery for locally
recurrent early stage NSCLC after SBRT.Methods:A systematic literature search was performed according to Preferred Reporting
Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.
PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases
were searched and two authors independently assessed the articles. A total
of seven eligible articles were identified.Results:All seven articles were retrospective case series, representing a total of 47
patients. Surgery was completed in all patients. Where reported in
sufficient detail, morbidity (four studies) was between 29 and 50% (series
of two patients) and 90-day mortality (six studies) was between 0% (four
studies) and 11% (n = 1, disease progression). Median
(n = 5)/mean (n = 1) reported or
calculated follow ups were 7–54.5/17.3 months. Median overall survival was
reported in three studies and ranged between 13.6–82.7 months. Crude
survival in three others was 2–35 months.Conclusion:Limited, low-level evidence prevents firm conclusions, but based on the
existing data, salvage surgery after local recurrence of NSCLC following
SBRT appears technically feasible, with acceptable morbidity and mortality
in appropriately selected and counselled patients who are fit enough and who
accept the risks (level of evidence 4, strength of recommendation C).