Patients diagnosed with lung cancer that has spread beyond one lung are said to have stage IV lung cancer. Treatment is aimed at controlling the symptoms of cancer and making patients live longer Typically, doses of 36 Gray (Gy) is delivered in 12 daily treatments (excluding weekends) of radiotherapy are used and take about 16 days. The SHiP-Rt study will explore the possibility of using fewer radiation treatments to deliver similar radiotherapy doses, thereby shortening the overall duration, without any additional side effects. Side effects are temporary but include discomfort in swallowing food, cough, and breathlessness. It is not known if receiving 30Gy in 6 treatments would be more or less effective than 36Gy in 12 treatments which is the current standard of care.
We aim to investigate whether delivering the SHiP-Rt treatment regime doses of 30 Gy in 6 treatments given every other day (excluding weekends) is a safe and feasible alternative, using modern radiotherapy techniques.