Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in Gynecologic Oligometastases: An Effective but Underutilized Approach

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 15; no. 13; p. 3526
• Main Authors: Sherwani, Zohaib, Parikh, Shreel, Yegya-Raman, Nikhil, McKenna, Kelly, Deek, Matthew, Jabbour, Salma, Hathout, Lara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 07-07-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Abdomen; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cervical cancer; Chemotherapy; Clinical trials; Development and progression; Immunotherapy; Lymphatic system; Malignancy; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Metastasis; Ovarian cancer; Palliation; Radiation; Radiation therapy; Radiotherapy; Review; Surgery; Survival; Vagina; gynecologic cancer; stereotactic body radiation therapy; ovarian cancer; uterine cancer; cervical cancer; oligometastases
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers15133526

Historically, the role of radiation in gynecological metastatic disease involved palliation for pain or bleeding. Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) has shown survival benefits in oligometastatic disease from varying primary histologies in recent randomized trials. However, gynecologic primary oligometastases have been underrepresented in these trials. Recent studies across gynecological malignancy types have similarly shown favorable outcomes and acceptable toxicities from treating recurrent or oligometastatic gynecologic cancer (ROMGC) patients with definitive radiation therapy. The largest body of literature reported on the use of SBRT in ovarian cancer, which was found to be an effective option, especially in the setting of chemo-resistant disease. Despite the encouraging outcomes using SBRT in oligometastatic gynecologic malignancies, SBRT remains underutilized given the lack of randomized studies studying ROMGC with long term follow-up. While waiting for future prospective trials to establish the role of SBRT as the standard of care in ROMGC patients, this review focuses on reporting the advantages and drawbacks of this technique and examines the current literature to help guide patient centered treatment decisions.