Feasibility and early clinical assessment of flattening filter free (FFF) based stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) treatments
2011

Feasibility of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy with Flattening Filter Free Beams

Sample size: 70 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Marta Scorsetti, Filippo Alongi, Simona Castiglioni, Alessandro Clivio, Antonella Fogliata, Francesca Lobefalo, Pietro Mancosu, Pierina Navarria, Valentina Palumbo, Chiara Pellegrini, Sara Pentimalli, Giacomo Reggiori, Anna M Ascolese, Antonella Roggio, Stefano Arcangeli, Angelo Tozzi, Eugenio Vanetti, Luca Cozzi

Primary Institution: Radiotherapy and radiosurgery, Humanitas Cancer Center, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano (Milano), Italy

Hypothesis

To test feasibility and safety of clinical usage of Flattening Filter Free (FFF) beams for delivering ablative stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) doses to various tumor sites.

Conclusion

SBRT with FFF beams is a feasible technique with low acute toxicity in patients with various primary and metastatic lesions.

Supporting Evidence

  • All 70 patients completed the treatment with a minimum follow-up of 3 months.
  • Six cases of acute toxicities were recorded, with no patient experiencing acute toxicity greater than Grade 3.
  • Early clinical outcomes showed complete response in 10 patients and partial response in 26 patients.

Takeaway

Doctors tested a new way to treat cancer with special beams that don't flatten the radiation, and it worked well without causing too many side effects.

Methodology

Seventy patients were treated with SBRT and FFF beams, with doses ranging from 32 to 75 Gy depending on the tumor site.

Limitations

The study was limited to short-term follow-up and did not assess late toxicity or definitive tumor control outcomes.

Participant Demographics

{"gender":{"male":46,"female":24},"age":{"median":65,"range":"39-89"},"primary_site":{"lung":34,"colon":10,"breast":2,"pancreas":2,"uterus":1,"sarcoma":6,"stomach":3,"prostate":1,"liver":4,"endometrial":1,"melanoma":1,"unknown":5}}

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1748-717X-6-113

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