Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government

Short Interval Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy after Surgery for the Treatment of Spinal Metastases

Trial Status: approved

This clinical trial tests the safety and effectiveness of delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) shortly after surgery for the treatment of solid tumors that have spread from where they first started (primary site) to the spine (spinal metastases). Patients with spinal metastases are usually treated with surgery followed by SBRT. SBRT is a type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position a patient and precisely deliver radiation to tumors in the body (except the brain). The total dose of radiation is divided into smaller doses given over several days. This type of radiation therapy helps spare normal tissue. Current guidelines suggest SBRT should be delivered within 2-4 weeks after surgery, but the optimal timing for delivering SBRT after surgery has not been determined. In this study, patients undergo SBRT, delivered as volume modulated arc therapy (VMAT; a type of radiation therapy delivered to the whole volume of target tissue by a single rotation of the linear accelerator) within 3-14 days of surgery. This shorter interval between surgery and radiation may be safe and effective for treating patients with spinal metastases, while also reducing treatment delays.