2020 ASTRO Annual Meeting
Linda G.W. Kerkmeijer, MD, PhD, on Prostate Cancer: Adding a Focal Boost to External-Beam Radiotherapy
Linda G.W. Kerkmeijer, MD, PhD, of the University Medical Center Utrecht and Radboud University Medical Center, discusses results from the phase III FLAME trial, which explored the question of whether...
Sexual Health: An Issue for Many Survivors of Cancer
Sexual dysfunction is prevalent among cancer survivors—and rarely addressed—according to data presented during the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.1 A survey of can...
Novel Radiomodulation Approach With Dismutase Mimetic Plus SBRT in Resectable Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive, lethal malignancies, and life-extending treatments represent a critical unmet need. A pilot study suggests a potential way forward for patients with no...
Expert Point of View: Ramesh Rengan, MD, PhD
Formal discussant of this trial, Ramesh Rengan, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, and Professor, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle...
Low-Dose Radiotherapy for COVID-19–Related Pneumonia
Whole-lung low-dose radiation therapy led to quicker recovery from COVID-19–related pneumonia in hospitalized and oxygen-dependent patients compared with matched controls treated with best supportive ...
Expert Point of View: Thomas J. Dilling, MD, MS
Formal discussant Thomas J. Dilling, MD, MS, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, congratulated the authors on this study. He noted that early findings from both treatment arms showed similar rat...
Single-Fraction SBRT May Be Equivalent to Four in Patients With Oligometastatic Lung Disease
Delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT also called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy) in one or four treatment sessions led to similar outcomes in patients with up to three lung metasta...
Stereotactic Radiosurgery May Delay Cognitive Deterioration vs Whole-Brain Radiotherapy for Multiple Brain Metastases
Stereotactic radiosurgery appears to be a new standard of care for patients with four or more nonmelanoma brain metastases, perhaps replacing whole-brain radiotherapy in this setting, according to a p...
Management of Painful Spinal Metastases: SBRT vs Conventional Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported at the virtual edition of the 2020 A...
Image-Guided IMRT Reduces GI Toxicity Without Compromising Pelvic Recurrence in Intermediate- to High-Risk Cervical Cancer
Post-hysterectomy image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) was superior to three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) in reducing the side effects of pelvic radiation whil...
Fluciclovine PET Imaging Benefits Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Compared With Conventional Imaging in Prostate Cancer
The addition of the radiotracer fluciclovine to positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging for radiotherapy treatment planning led to superior failure-free survival compared with conventional imaging...
Adjuvant vs Neoadjuvant Androgen-Deprivation Therapy With Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Sequencing of androgen-deprivation therapy with radiotherapy has a significant impact on long-term outcomes in localized prostate cancer, according to data presented during the virtual edition of the ...
Jeff M. Michalski, MD, MBA, on Medulloblastoma and Radiation Treatment in Pediatric Patients
Jeff M. Michalski, MD, MBA, of the Washington University School of Medicine, discusses a Children’s Oncology Group study that confirmed data previously reported: Involved-field radiotherapy is noninfe...
Justin Oh, MD, on Prostate Cancer: Brachytherapy vs External-Beam Radiation Therapy
Justin Oh, MD, of the University of British Columbia, discusses results from the ASCENDE-RT trial, which compared a low-dose–rate brachytherapy boost to a dose-escalated external-beam boost for patien...
Should Patients With a Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation for Rectal Cancer Also Undergo Surgery?
A nonsurgical treatment option for rectal cancer that preserves quality of life may be safe for selected patients, according to a new study comparing it with standard surgical treatment. These finding...
Jing Li, MD, PhD, on Brain Metastases: Stereotactic Radiosurgery vs Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy
Jing Li, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III results showing the use of stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with 4 to 15 brain metastases, compared wit...
Gemcitabine and Daily Radiation for Patients With Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
Bladder preservation with trimodality therapy may be a safe and effective alternative to cystectomy for selected patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, according to results from a phase II tria...
Vinai Gondi, MD, on Glioblastoma: Dose Intensification, IMRT, Standard Radiotherapy, and Temozolomide
Vinai Gondi, MD, of Northwestern Medicine Cancer Center and Northwestern Medicine Proton Center, discusses the preliminary results of an NRG Oncology study of radiotherapy dose intensification using i...
Alphonse G. Taghian, MD, PhD, on Irradiation for Breast Cancer: Defining the Optimal Dose
Alphonse G. Taghian, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, reviews the 10-year follow-up of a dose-escalation trial studying accelerated partial-breast irradiation and discusses the optimal dose...
Sexual Health Often Overlooked in Cancer Survivorship Care
A new study points to a need for oncologists to ask their patients about sexual health after chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments. In a survey of nearly 400 cancer survivors, 87% said ...
Geographic Access to Radiotherapy Facilities in the United States
The number of radiation therapy facilities in the United States has grown by 17% over the past 15 years, according to a new study presented by Maroongroge et al at the 2020 American Society for Radiat...
Study Finds Further Efforts Needed for Inclusion of Underrepresented Populations in Radiotherapy Clinical Trials
A new study finds that the racial composition of clinical trials involving radiation therapy does not match that of the U.S. population. Examining trials from the past 23 years, researchers found that...
Daniel E. Spratt, MD, on Prostate Cancer: Relugolix vs Leuprolide
Daniel E. Spratt, MD, of the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, discusses phase III results of the HERO trial, which suggested benefits of the oral medication relugolix: a substantially faste...
Daniel E. Spratt, MD, on Prostate Cancer: Short-Term Adjuvant vs Neoadjuvant Hormone Therapy
Daniel E. Spratt, MD, of the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, discusses a pooled analysis of two phase III trials showing adjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) improves biochemical co...
Cynthia Menard, MD, on Prostate Cancer: PSMA PET- and CT-Guided Intensification of Radiotherapy
Cynthia Menard, MD, of the University of Montreal, discusses a study on the use of prostate-specific membrane antigen PET and CT to guide treatment. The scans led to high rates of new lesion detection...
SBRT May Provide Superior Pain Relief From Spinal Metastases vs Conventional Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported by Arjun Sahgal, MD, and colleagues a...
SBRT for Multiple Lung Metastases: How Many Treatment Sessions Are Optimal?
Delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT, also called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy) in either one or four treatment sessions led to similar outcomes in patients with up to three lung...
Youssef Zeidan, MD, PhD, on HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Deintensifying Radiation Therapy
Youssef Zeidan, MD, PhD, of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, discusses study findings showing that breast-conserving surgery, whole-breast irradiation, and trastuzumab offer effective...
Paul Sargos, MD, on Prostate Cancer: Adjuvant or Early Salvage Radiotherapy Plus Androgen Deprivation
Paul Sargos, MD, of the Institut Bergonié, discusses phase III findings from the GETUG-AFU 17 study, which compared adjuvant vs early salvage radiotherapy, both combined with short-term androgen-depri...
Juliane Hörner-Rieber, MD, on Breast Cancer: Boosting Intensity-Modulated and Conventional Radiotherapies
Juliane Hörner-Rieber, MD, of Heidelberg University Hospital, discusses phase III results of the MINT trial, which showed that conventionally fractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy with a simul...
Arjun Sahgal, MD, on Reducing the Pain of Spinal Metastases: SBRT vs Palliative Radiotherapy
Arjun Sahgal, MD, of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, discusses results of the first phase III trial to suggest that dose escalation with stereotactic body radiotherapy may be superior to conven...
Neha Vapiwala, MD, on Prostate Cancer: Imaging and the Decision to Treat With Radiation
Neha Vapiwala, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, who served as a discussant for LBA1, summarizes her review of this study of patients with prostate cancer who had biochemical recurrence in the po...
Stereotactic Radiosurgery May Delay Cognitive Deterioration vs WBRT in Patients With Numerous Brain Metastases
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) may represent a new standard of care for patients with four or more brain metastases, replacing whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in this setting, according to a pha...
Fluciclovine PET Imaging vs Conventional Imaging in Prostate Cancer
The addition of the radiotracer fluciclovine to positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging for treatment planning led to superior failure-free survival compared with conventional imaging in men with p...
