Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT)

Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) gives radiotherapy from many different angles around the body. The beams meet at the tumour. This means the tumour receives a high dose of radiation and the tissues around it receive a much lower dose. This lowers the risk of side effects.

Usually you have between 1 and 8 treatments.

You might hear a few different terms for stereotactic radiotherapy. This can be confusing. Stereotactic treatment for the body might be called:

• stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) 

• stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR)

Stereotactic radiotherapy to the brain might be called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). This is usually a single treatment. If you have more than one treatment to the brain, this is called stereotactic treatment.

When you might have stereotactic radiotherapy

This type of radiotherapy is mainly used to treat very small cancers, including:

•  cancer in the lung

•  cancer that started in the liver or cancer that has spread to the liver

•  cancers in the lymph nodes

•  spinal cord tumours

•  cancer spread in the brain

Stereotactic radiotherapy can treat areas of the body that have had radiotherapy before. For example, if someone has had radiotherapy to their pelvis, they usually can't have radiotherapy to the same area again. But stereotactic treatment is so precise, it can often mean re-treatment is possible. 

Research is being carried out to see what other cancers stereotactic treatment can help.