Collaboration with the Edinburgh Cancer Informatics team enabled an investigation of the Real-World Impact of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) along with other conventional methods (conventional radiotherapy and surgery) on Stage I Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients in South-East Scotland. A total of 1143 patients discussed at MDM between January 2012 and December 2019 were selected for this study from the Edinburgh Cancer Centre Lung Cancer Database. Treatment, clinical and demographics characteristics were reported for different time periods reflective of the use of SABR or alternatives as standard of care for these patients.
Changes in treatment patterns were reported along with survival curves and analysis. Age, performance status, and comorbidities were influential over treatment decisions and outcomes. Stage I NSCLC was found to have received more SABR treatment over time, and was associated with increasing patient survival rates.
The full study report is published in the journal Cancers.
The introduction and establishment of SABR for stage I NSCLC has improved survival outcomes in South-East Scotland. Increasing SABR utilisation appears to have enhanced the selection of surgical patients and increased the proportion of patients receiving a radical therapy.
This paper was worked on by a number of outstanding academics, including Dr Iain Phillips and Dr Mark Stares. Dr Phillips is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, Western General Hospital. Research interest in technical radiotherapy, advanced image analysis and cachexia in lung cancer. He is an NHS Research Scotland Career Research Fellow and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Stares is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist in NHS Lothian, alongside his academic role at Edinburgh University as Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Medical Oncology.
Dr Iain Phillips
