Introduction

Radiotherapy plays an important role in the curative or palliative treatment of cancer. As a novel radiation delivery technique, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) utilizes 3D-conformal treatment planning, high-precision beam delivery technology and patient specific position verification to target tumors, often in one to five high-dose fractions. Currently, there is no consensus about best SRT practices in veterinary radiotherapy. The objective of this study was to document the breadth of perspectives, techniques and applications of SRT in veterinary medicine.

Methods

We conducted an online survey of ACVR members specializing in radiation oncology to assess how, when and why SRT is being used. Both SRT users and non-users completed the survey.

Results

The overall response and survey completion rate was 55% (67/123) and 87% (58/67), respectively. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported providing SRT at their facility, with a median of five canine and one feline cases per month. Delivery methods included C-arm linear accelerator with multi-leaf collimator, Tomotherapy and CyberKnife. Non-pituitary intracranial tumors, pituitary tumors and sinonasal tumors were the most common cancers treated using SRT in both species. The most common fractionation scheme was 3 fractions of 10 Gy/fraction.

Conclusion

The results of this survey indicate that SRT is increasingly being used in veterinary medicine. These results provide valuable information regarding current SRT practices in veterinary medicine, and may provide an initial step towards standardizing methods and establishing consensus guidelines.