C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD, on Using Radiotherapy to Thwart Tumor Growth in Advanced Cancers
2021 ASTRO Annual Meeting
C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses results from the first randomized trial of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat oligoprogressive, metastatic lung and breast cancers. The standard of care for patients with these types of tumors is to switch to a different systemic treatment. Adding local therapy such as SBRT may help treat drug-resistant lesions (Abstract LBA3).
The ASCO Post Staff
Daniel F. Hayes, MD, of the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, discusses whether liquid biopsies can provide insight into the challenge of curing metastatic breast and possibly other cancers, how oligometastases are similar to a primary cancer, and why some kinds of local therapy for widespread disease might improve survival and lead to a cure.
The ASCO Post Staff
Howard M. Sandler, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses whether hypofractionation can be safely employed in the post-prostatectomy setting and the role of short-term hormone therapy in the management of intermediate-risk prostate cancer with radiotherapy.
The ASCO Post Staff
Robert A. Olson, MD, of the University of British Columbia, discusses phase II findings from the SABR-5 trial on stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for up to five oligometastases. Although toxicity of liver and adrenal metastases warrants caution, the trial seemed to show that this type of radiation treatment is relatively safe and should be studied further, given the long overall survival in this patient population (Abstract 6).
The ASCO Post Staff
Matthew Manning, MD, of Cone Health Cancer Center, discusses findings that showed changes to the way cancer care is delivered may help eliminate racial disparities in survival among patients with early-stage lung and breast cancers. Identifying and addressing obstacles that kept patients from finishing radiation treatments for cancer were associated with improved 5-year survival rates for all patients (Abstract 53).
The ASCO Post Staff
Daniel J. Ma, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, discusses results from a phase III study of patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Comparing a 2-week course of de-escalated adjuvant radiation therapy with the standard 6-week course, investigators found that the shorter treatment appeared to have less toxicity, higher quality of life, and similar disease control as the longer standard-of-care treatment (Abstract LBA1).
