Melanie B. Thomas, MD, Associate Director of Clinical Investigations and the Grace E. DeWolff Chair of Medical Oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, commented on the findings by Martin et al for The ASCO Post.

“I think this study is exciting,” she said. “They were thorough about image assessment, and this alone will be informative. By traditional RECIST criteria the DEBIRI didn’t show an improvement, but by other imaging assessments it did. They also had a high rate of downstaging for surgery. While the study was too small to look for statistical significance, these are very positive and encouraging findings.” ■

Disclosure: Dr. Thomas reported no potential conflicts of interest.