Toxic risk of stereotactic body radiotherapy and concurrent helical tomotherapy followed by erlotinib for non-small-cell lung cancer treatment - case report.

Background: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) applied by helical tomotherapy (HT) is feasible for lung cancer in clinical. Using SBRT concurrently with erlotinib for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not reported previously. Case Presentation: A 77-year-old man with stage III NSCLC, received erlotinib 150 mg/day, combined with imageguided SBRT via HT. A total tumor dose of 54 Gy/9 fractions was delivered to the tumor bed. The tumor responded dramatically and the combined regimen was well tolerated. After concurrent erlotinib-SBRT, erlotinib was continued as maintenance therapy. The patient developed dyspnea three months after the combined therapy and radiation pneumonitis with interstitial lung disease was suspected. Conclusions: Combination SBRT, HT, and erlotinib therapy provided effective anti-tumor results. Nonetheless, the potential risks of enhanced adverse effects between radiation and erlotinib should be monitored closely, especially when SBRT is part of the regimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]