High-dose radiation therapy can increase progression-free survival in patients with advanced lung cancer, when systemic therapy fails to inhibit the growth or spread of metastases, according to study results presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting. 

Of 106 patients enrolled, 59 had non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 47 had breast cancer. All participants had between one and five progressing metastatic sites that did not respond to systemic therapy and 75% had more than one oligoprogressive site. 

Half were randomized to stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and half were treated with standard of care of continuing systemic therapy or switching to another drug. 

After a median of 45 weeks, 87 (74%) had additional tumor progression and 39 (37%) had died. 

In patients with NSCLC treated with SBRT, the median PFS was 44 weeks, compared to 9 week for those who received standard of care (p=0.001). 

In patients with breast cancer, there was no significant difference in PFS between SBRT vs. those treated with standard of care. 

"We found that, for the cohort of patients with lung cancer, radiation treatment to the oligoproressive sites tended to help them stay stable and maintain a progression-free state for much longer, compared to the standard of care. However, for the breast cancer cohort, we didn't see any difference," said lead author C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist and director of metastatic disease radiation oncology research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. 

They are also studying why people with lung cancer, but not those with breast cancer, responded to radiation. 


Reference: 
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932577 

Images: Getty Images, Pixabay 
Disclosures: MD /alert could not confirm financial disclosures at the time of reporting. 

 
By MD /alert Staff