Youssef Zeidan, MD, PhD, of Florida International University and the Lynn Cancer Institute, discusses the advances in radiotherapy planning and delivery that have reduced cardiac radiation exposure in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who are treated with radiotherapy and trastuzumab (Abstract 12).
Yongbae Kim, MD, of the Yonsei Cancer Center and Yonsei University College of Medicine, discusses findings that showed the use of internal mammary area irradiation (IMNI) in regional nodal irradiation did not significantly improve disease-free survival for women with node-positive breast cancer. However, patients with medially or centrally located tumors may be considered for treatment with IMNI (Abstract 2).
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).
Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who co-chaired a session (PS 02) on digital health, summarizes the talks, which included ways to reduce disparities with digital innovations and the importance of patient input, especially in the form of patient-reported outcomes and experience measures. Advancing digital health, which the FDA defines as including health information technology, telemedicine, and personalized medicine, can potentially improve cancer care.
Shauna Campbell, DO, of Cleveland Clinic, discusses results from her study that showed hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (H-IMRT) in the definitive or postoperative treatment of head and neck cancers using ≥ 50 Gy in 20 fractions appears to be safe and well tolerated with modest toxicity. Dr. Campbell suggests that prospective studies comparing the safety and efficacy of H-IMRT with those of conventionally fractionated IMRT are warranted (Abstract 2313).
Mark K. Buyyounouski, MD, MS, of Stanford University, discusses phase III results from the NRG Oncology GU003 trial, which showed that, post-prostatectomy, using fewer—but higher—doses of radiation does not appear to increase long-term side effects or reduce quality of life when compared with conventional radiation treatment (Abstract 3).
