Stereotactic body radiation therapy is being increasingly used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma in Australia, but patient selection and dosing schedules vary widely, radiation oncologists say.

Their study shows that the emerging ablative therapy is being chosen first-line, for salvage after cancer recurrence, and as palliative therapy in patients with a range of tumour sizes and stages.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was listed as an option for optimising local tumour control in 2020 Australian consensus guidance on the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the investigators noted.

They reviewed records for 317 patients (median age 67) at 10 institutions with dedicated liver SBRT programs, drawing on information from the Liver Ablative Stereotactic Radiation (LASR) database covering the period 2013-2019.