Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) in the Treatment of Liver Tumors

Patients with primary hepato-biliary malignancies or liver metastases from gastrointestinal cancer suffer substantial morbidity and mortality from their hepatic disease. Curative resection is feasible only for selected subgroups of patients. The majority of patients have unresectable and incurable disease. Aggressive arterial and systemic chemotherapy have been used in recent years with improved response and survival. However, a significant number of patients, at least one-third of patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer and two-third or higher of unresectable hepatobiliary cancer, continue to die of liver failure from progressive disease in the liver. Percutaneous ethanol injections, chemoembolization, cryotherapy and thermal ablation using radiofrequency have been used to treat selected patients with smaller tumors (3-4 cm) in areas away from major blood vessels and the biliary tract. However, most unresectable liver cancers did not fit the criteria for these treatments. Therefore, other regional therapeutic option like external radiation therapy may be considered for local control in the liver or symptom palliation