Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy versus metastasectomy for pulmonary metastases: guiding treatment in the oligometastatic era

Across the spectrum of stage IV cancers, there is increasing evidence of an oligometastatic state as a distinct clinical entity, whereby tumour burden is limited to 5 or fewer lesions confined to a few sites (1,2). In this clinical scenario, there is an increasing utilization of local treatments, including surgical resection (metastasectomy) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), also known as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).