Research advances in stereotactic body radiation therapy for primary liver cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) adopts different tumor-killing mechanisms from the conventional fractionated radiotherapy.In SBRT,a single high-dose radiation can destroy the membrane of tumor cells and induce the release of tumor-associated antigen,also named in situ tumor vaccine,which stimulates the immune system to kill the residual tumor;a single-fraction radiation with a dose larger than 8-10 Gy can induce rapid apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells via the acid sphingomyelinase pathway at 1-6 hours after radiation,which causes tumor vascular occlusion and secondary tumor-killing effects.In order to understand whether SBRT improves the clinical treatment outcomes via the above mechanisms,this paper reviews the clinical research advances in SBRT for primary liver cancer.