Serial radiation therapy safe as alternative treatment for kidney cancer
pharmafile | October 28, 2021 | News story | Business Services |
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has reported that Serial radiation therapy as monotherapy is a safe and effective noninvasive treatment for oligometastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), as an alternative to systemic therapy. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, responsible for approximately 90-95% of cases.
30 patients diagnosed with RCC were enrolled from July 13, 2018, to Sept 18, 2020. All patients had clear cell histology and had a nephrectomy (surgical removal of part or whole of kidney, usually to prevent the spread of cancer), before enrolment. All patients completed at least one round of the radiotherapy with less than 7 days of unplanned breaks.
Led by Chad Tang, MD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, the Phase II trial is the first study to investigate and report the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) as an alternative treatment to standard-of-care systemic therapy for oligometastatic RCC, a disease state in which a small number of new RCC tumors form in one or two other areas of the body.
“These findings are exciting because we’re challenging the dogma in radiation oncology that RCC is biologically radioresistant,” Tang said. “Our strategy to iteratively radiate tumors as they grow and appear has demonstrated promising results. This adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting/indicating radiation therapy could offer an alternative treatment beyond systemic therapy for patients with this disease.”
Overall, radiation therapy was well tolerated with conservative management. All patients completed at least one round of radiation therapy without requiring dose reduction or discontinuation due to toxicities. The study suggests that sequential radiotherapy might facilitate a deferral of systemic therapy for patients, and could allow sustained systemic therapy breaks for some patients with oligometastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Ana Ovey
