A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Versus Surgery for Patients With Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Cao and colleagues compared outcomes with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to surgery for patients with non–small cell lung cancer using a meta-analysis of 23 studies. Although periprocedural risk was lower for SBRT, surgery provided improved overall survival at later times in both unmatched (16 studies) and matched cohorts (14 studies), with odds ratios of 2.49 and 1.71, respectively. Subgroup analysis demonstrated superior overall survival for lobectomy and sublobar resection when compared with SBRT. The authors also evaluated cancer-specific survival, disease-free survival, and freedom from recurrence for the subsets of studies that reported them.