**Radiotherapy in Lung Cancer**

Fiona Lim Mei Ying

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/67204

#### **Abstract**

Lung cancer remains one of the top five cancers worldwide. Around 85% are nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and only one‐third present with early stage diseases. Radiotherapy had an important role both in radical and palliative treatment. With advancement in technology, newer techniques of stereotactic body radiotherapy allow delivery of much higher biologically effective dose to tumor achieving similar outcomes to radical surgery in early stage diseases. However, the usually large tumor volume together with preex‐ iting poor lung condition makes radiotherapy challenging to deliver a radical dose to tumor while maintaining normal tissue constrains. In this chapter, different indications and techniques used in treating NSCLC will be discussed and reviewed.

**Keywords:** nonsmall cell lung cancer, external beam radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiotherapy

### **1. Introduction**

According to the World Cancer Report 2014, lung cancer remains the top five most com‐ mon cancers among both men and women worldwide. And it is also the leading cause of cancer deaths. Majority (around 85%) are nonsmall cell lung carcinomas [1, 2]. Incidence of adenocarcinoma had been rising and now became the most common histological subtypes in both men and women. About one‐third of them are presented with early stage local‐ ized disease (stage I–II), another one‐third with locally advanced disease (stage III), and remaining one‐third with metastatic disease (stage IV) at diagnosis [3, 4].

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