The METABANK score: A clinical tool to predict survival after stereotactic radiotherapy for oligometastatic disease

The Clinical Efficacy of Colorectal Cancer Patients with Pulmonary Oligometastases by Sterotactic Body Ablative Radiotherapy: A Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE

There is increasing interest in the efficacy of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for treating colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with oligometastases (OM), recently. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate local control (LC), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of CRC patients with pulmonary OM treated with SABR and toxicities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Studies that reported SABR for CRC patients with pulmonary OM were searched from MEDLINE and Embase. Treatment outcomes including LC, PFS, OS, and toxicities of grade 3 or higher were assessed.

RESULTS

A total of 19 studies with 1,668 patients were chosen for this meta-analysis. Pooled 1-, 2-, and 3-year LC rates were 83.1%, 69.3%, and 63.9%, respectively. PFS rates were 44.8%, 26.5%, and 21.5% at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. OS rates at 1-, 2-, and 3-year were 87.5%, 69.9%, and 60.5%, respectively. The toxicity rate of grade 3 or higher was 3.6%. The effect of dose escalation was meta-analyzed using available studies.

CONCLUSION

Application of SABR to CRC patients with pulmonary OM achieved modest local control with acceptable toxicity according to the present meta-analysis. Further studies establishing the clinical efficacy of SABR are guaranteed.

Prognostic Factors of Oligometastasis After Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: The Real-World Utility of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Classification

AIM

The efficacy of local therapy for oligometastatic disease (OMD) remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic utility of the classification system for OMD and explore which groups may benefit from stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

METHODS

This single-center retrospective study included 45 patients (52 sites) with solid tumors and 1-3 extracranial oligometastases who underwent SBRT for all metastases at our institution between January 2018 and December 2021. OMD states were classified based on the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) classification system. Local control (LC), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) for each group were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Acute and late adverse events (AEs) were evaluated according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.0.

RESULTS

The median follow-up period was 14 months (range: 0-48 months). The numbers of patients in the de novo (first diagnosis of OMD), repeat (previous history of OMD), and induced (previous history of polymetastatic disease) OMD groups were 15, 17, and 13, respectively. The LC rates at one year for the entire, de novo, repeat, and induced cohorts were 87.2%, 87.5%, 90.2%, and 83.9%, respectively (p=0.80). The one-year PFS rates for each group were 35.0%, 56.7%, and 29.9%, respectively (p=0.58). The one-year OS rates for each group were 80.0%, 86.2%, and 80.8%, respectively (p=0.50). Grade 2 or 3 AEs occurred in five patients (10.4%). No grade 4 or 5 AEs were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

SBRT is safe and highly effective for local control. Patients with repeat OMD demonstrated a trend of longer PFS, suggesting that this subgroup may benefit from local therapy at metastatic sites.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer patients with oligometastatic disease: a real world study

PURPOSE

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is a treatment modality with curative intent for oligometastatic cancer patients, commonly defined by a low-burden metastatic disease with 1-5 systemic metastases. Better knowledge of the clinical profile and prognostic factors in oligometastatic cancer patients could help to improve the selection of candidates who may obtain most benefits from SBRT. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical data and outcome in term of overall survival (OS) of patients with oligometastatic disease treated with SBRT over a 6-year period.

METHODS

From 2013 to 2018, 284 solid tumor cancer patients with 1-5 oligometastases underwent SBRT at a large university-affiliated oncological center in Barcelona, Spain. Variables related to the patient profile, tumor, oligometastatic disease, and treatment were evaluated.

RESULTS

A total of 327 metastatic tumors were treated with SBRT. In 65.5% of cases, metachronous tumors were diagnosed at least 1 year after diagnosis of the primary tumor. The median age of the patients was 73.9 years and 66.5% were males. The median follow-up was 37.5 months. The most common primary tumors were lung and colorectal cancer, with lung and bone as the most commonly treated metastatic sites. Ninety-three percent of patients showed a Karnofsky score (KPS) between 80 and 100. Adenocarcinoma was the most common histological type. The median overall survival was 53.4 months, with 1-, 2- and 5-year survival rates of 90.5%, 73.9% and 43.4%, respectively. Overall survival rates of breast (67.6 months, 95% CI 56.4-78.9), urological (63.3 months, 95% CI 55.8-70.8), and colorectal (50.8 months, 95% CI 44.2-57.4) tumors were higher as compared with other malignancies (20 months, 95% CI 11.2-28.8 months) (p < 0.001). Patients with Karnofsky score (KPS) of 90 and 100 showed a significantly better survival than those with impaired performance status (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

SBRT appears to be well tolerated and safe approach in oligometastatic patients. Patients with good performance status and with primary breast, urological and colorectal cancer have higher OS compared with other malignancies. More studies are necessary to evaluate the prognostic factors in oligometastatic disease (OMD) in order to select patients who could benefit more from this therapeutic approach.

Oligometastases: Emerging Evidence

The hypothesis that ablative therapies (such as surgery or radiation) can be used to cure patients with a limited number of metastases was influential in changing practice. Early assertions of efficacy were based on observational studies, often without control groups, showing better-than-expected outcomes. However, in the past decade, new evidence from randomized trials has emerged, which in some cases have affirmed old hypotheses, but in other cases have raised new questions. In this review, we discuss the challenges in defining oligometastatic disease, summarize the randomized evidence evaluating metastasis-directed therapy in patients with oligometastatic disease, provide context for the difficulty in generating randomized evidence, and examine ongoing phase III studies.

Ways to improve breast cancer patients' management and clinical outcome: The 2020 Assisi Think Tank Meeting

We report on the third Assisi Think Tank Meeting (ATTM) on breast cancer, a brainstorming project which involved European radiation and clinical oncologists who were dedicated to breast cancer research and treatment. Held on February 2020, the ATTM aimed at identifying key clinical questions in current clinical practice and "grey" areas requiring research to improve management and outcomes. Before the meeting, three key topics were selected: 1) managing patients with frailty due to either age and/or multi-morbidity; 2) stereotactic radiation therapy and systemic therapy in the management of oligometastatic disease; 3) contralateral breast tumour prevention in BCRA-mutated patients. Clinical practice in these areas was investigated by means of an online questionnaire. In the lapse period between the survey and the meeting, the working groups reviewed data, on-going studies and the clinical challenges which were then discussed in-depth and subjected to intense brainstorming during the meeting; research protocols were also proposed. Methodology, outcome of discussions, conclusions and study proposals are summarized in the present paper. In conclusion, this report presents an in-depth analysis of the state of the art, grey areas and controversies in breast cancer radiation therapy and discusses how to confront them in the absence of evidence-based data to guide clinical decision-making.

Distant metastasis velocity as a novel prognostic score for overall survival after disease progression following stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic disease

BACKGROUND

In patients with extracranial oligometastatic disease (OMD), distant failure (DF) after local ablative therapies is common. Prognostic scores to guide salvage treatment decision making are currently lacking. Analogous to brain metastasis velocity (BMV), we propose distant metastasis velocity (DMV) as a prognostic score for overall survival (OS) and widespread failure-free survival (WFFS) after DF following metastasis-directed stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with ≤5 metastases from solid organ malignancies treated with SBRT to all lesions at our institution from 2014 to 2019 were screened and patients who developed DF were included in this retrospective analysis. DMV was defined as metastases/month, determined at DF, and transformed into a 3-level categorical variable with cutpoints that minimized the log-rank p-value for OS. Simple and multiple linear regression was used to predict DMV based on different patient and treatment variables. The association of DMV and other variables with OS was studied by univariable and multivariable Cox regression.

RESULTS

385 patients were screened, of which 303 developed DF and were included. The median DMV was 0.7 metastases/month. Patients with <0.5, 0.5-1.5, and >1.5 metastases/month were classified as low, intermediate, and high DMV, and had a median OS of 37.1, 26.7 and 16.8 months, respectively (p<0.0001). On multivariable analysis, DMV was a strong independent predictor of OS, with a hazard ratio of 0.31 for low (p<0.001) compared with high DMV. Lower DMV was significantly associated with longer WFFS (p=0.04). The cumulative metastases volume at baseline (regression coefficient β 0.03, p=0.04) and oligoprogressive/-persistent disease (β 1.91, p=0.10) predicted higher DMV.

CONCLUSION

DMV is a novel metric strongly associated with OS and WFFS after DF following SBRT in OMD patients, and should be evaluated for decision making about the optimal multimodality salvage treatment strategy. The prognostic value of DMV should be validated in prospective studies.

Oligoscore: a clinical score to predict overall survival in patients with oligometastatic disease treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy

BACKGROUND

to find clinical features that can predict prognosis in patients with oligometastatic disease treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Patients with less than 5 metastases in less than 3 different body sites were included in the analysis. Various clinical and treatment parameters were analyzed to create a Cox proportional hazard model for Overall Survival (OS). Subsequently, significant variables were used to create a score.

RESULTS

997 patients were analyzed. Median OS was 2.61 years, 1 and 3 years OS was respectively 85% and 43%. Location of the primary tumor, performance status, site of irradiated metastases, presence of extratarget non irradiated lesions and RT dose were significant prognostic factors for OS. These parameters were used to create a score and to distinguish three different classes, with median OS of 5.67 years in low risk, 2.47 years in intermediate risk and 1.82 years in high risk group.

CONCLUSION

moving from easily accessible clinical parameters, a score was created to help the physician's decision about the better treatment or combination of treatments for the individual patient.

The Road to Dissemination: The Concept of Oligometastases and the Barriers for Widespread Disease

Over the last years, the oligometastatic disease state has gained more and more interest, and randomized trials are now suggesting an added value of stereotactic radiotherapy on all macroscopic disease in oligometastatic patients; but what barriers could impede widespread disease in some patients? In this review, we first discuss the concept of oligometastatic disease and some examples of clinical evidence. We then explore the route to dissemination: the hurdles a tumoral clone has to overtake before it can produce efficient and widespread dissemination. The spectrum theory argues that the range of metastatic patterns encountered in the clinic is the consequence of gradually obtained metastatic abilities of the tumor cells. Tumor clones can obtain these capabilities by Darwinian evolution, hence early in their genetic progression tumors might produce only a limited number of metastases. We illustrate selective dissemination by discussing organ tropism, the preference of different cancer (sub)types to metastasize to certain organs. Finally we discuss biomarkers that may help to distinguish the oligometastatic state.

Development of a Prognostic Model for Overall Survival in Patients with Extracranial Oligometastatic Disease Treated with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

BACKGROUND

Patients with oligometastatic disease (OMD) may experience durable disease control with ablative therapy to all sites of disease. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an important modality in the management of OMD patients though a validated prognostic model for OMD patients treated with SBRT is currently lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop a prognostic model for overall survival (OS) in OMD patients treated with SBRT.

METHODS

A multi-institutional database of extracranial OMD patients treated with SBRT was used for model development. The final prognostic model was generated in a training set using recursive partitioning analysis representing 75% of the population. Model performance was evaluated in the reserved test set.

RESULTS

1,033 patients were included in the analysis. The median OS for the entire cohort was 44.2 months (95% confidence interval: 39.2-48.8 months). The variables used in the regression tree, in order of importance, were primary histology, lung-only OMD on presentation, the timing of OMD presentation and age at the start of SBRT. A full 5-category risk stratification system based on the terminal nodes possessed fair to good discriminative power with a Harrell's concordance statistic of 0.683 (0.634-0.731) and time-dependent area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.709 (0706-0.711) in the test set, with good calibration. A simplified risk stratification system consisting of 3 risk categories was also proposed for greater ease-of-use with comparable performance.

CONCLUSION

A clinical prognostic model for OS in patients with extracranial OMD treated with SBRT has been developed and validated.

Evaluation of local aggressive lung therapy versus systemic therapy in oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Previous studies have shown the feasibility and effectiveness of local aggressive thoracic therapy (surgery and radiotherapy) for oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer compared with systemic therapy, but with small sample. This study aims to perform a pooled analysis to explore whether LT could improve outcomes of oligometastatic patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods

Protocol of present study was registered on PROSPERO as number: CRD42021233095. PubMed, Embase and Web of knowledge were searched, and eligible studies investigating local therapy for non-small cell lung cancer with 1-5 metastases regardless of organs were included. Linear regression between survival and clinical characteristics were conducted. Hazard ratios of survival and adverse effects were merged. Pooled survival curves were carried out.

Results

Three randomized controlled trials and 5 cohort studies enrolling 499 patients were included. There was a trend that median overall survival declined with the increasing proportion of N2-3 positive patients in local therapy group, but with no statistical difference (P=0.09, R²=0.98). Undergoing local therapy for oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer achieved reduction of 47% and 60% in the risk of death and cancer progression (P<0.001), respectively. In subgroup analysis, patients receiving local therapy including surgery showed hazard ratio of 0.33 on progression-free survival and 0.55 of these excluding surgery. Patients receiving consolidative local therapy (local therapy after systemic therapy) obtained hazard ratios 0.33 and 0.45 on progression-free and overall survival vs. systemic therapy, respectively. Hazard ratios of those receiving upfront local therapy (local therapy first) were 0.62 and 0.68 on progression-free and overall survival vs. systemic therapy. Pooled survival analysis showed median overall and progression-free survival of local therapy (21.6 and 14 months) group were both longer than systemic one (14.3 and 6.5 months). Odds ratio of adverse effects were no difference between 2 groups (P=0.16).

Conclusions

Local aggressive thoracic therapy could prolong 7 months overall and progression-free survival compared with systemic therapy in patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Consolidative local therapy might be a more favorable choice of local therapy. Benefits of local therapy for N2-3 positive patients should explored further.

The decreased platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio could predict a good prognosis in patients with oligometastatic colorectal cancer: a single-center cohort retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Inflammation markers have an important effect on tumor proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. Oligometastatic disease (OMD) is an intermediate state between widespread metastases and locally confined disease, where curative strategies may be effective for some patients. We aimed to explore the predictive value of inflammatory markers in patients with oligometastatic colorectal cancer (OMCC) and build a nomogram to predict the prognosis of these patients.

METHODS

Two hundred nine patients with OMCC were retrospectively collected in this study. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression analysis were used to estimate overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). A multivariate Cox analysis model was utilized to establish the nomogram. The concordance index (C-index), calibration curve, and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were established to verify the validity and accuracy of the prediction model.

RESULTS

According to the multivariate analysis, decreased platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) might independently improve OS in patients with OMCC (HR = 2.396, 95% CI 1.391-4.126, P = 0.002). Metastases of extra-regional lymph nodes indicated poor OS (HR = 2.472, 95% CI 1.247-4.903, P = 0.010). While the patients with early N stage had better OS (HR = 4.602, 95% CI 2.055-10.305, P = 0.001) and PFS (HR = 2.100, 95% CI 1.364-3.231, P = 0.007). Primary tumor resection (HR = 0.367, 95% CI 0.148-0.908, P = 0.030) and lower fibrinogen (HR = 2.254, 95% CI 1.246-4.078, P = 0.007) could significantly prolong the OS in patients with OMCC. PLR, metastases of extra-regional lymph nodes, N stage, primary tumor resection, and fibrinogen were used to make up the nomogram. The C-index and area under the curve (AUC) of the ROC in nomogram were 0.721 and 0.772 respectively for OS, showed good consistency between predictive probability of OS and actual survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Decreased PLR could predict a good prognosis in patients with OMCC. The nomogram including inflammatory factors and clinicopathological markers was credible and accurate to predict survivals in patients with OMCC.

Oligometastatic Cancer: Key Concepts and Research Opportunities for 2021 and Beyond

Traditionally, clinicians distinguished three forms of cancer outgrowth [...].

Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers in Oligometastatic Disease

Metastatic lesions are largely responsible for cancer-related deaths and are synonymous with a poor prognosis. However, this is not always true for patients with oligometastases whose disease may be amenable to curative-intent local therapies. It has been proposed that an "intermediate state" (oligometastasis) exists in between locoregional and advanced disease states; however, the clinical definition of oligometastasis varies, and there is limited understanding of how tumor biology differs between oligometastases and polymetastases. There is evidence that local therapies can extend survival in patients with oligometastases, yet patient selection for local intervention and/or systemic therapy remains a challenge. Prognostic and predictive biomarkers of oligometastatic disease are strongly needed to identify patient candidates most likely to gain survival benefit from local therapies and to aid in the incorporation of ablative treatments in the context of existing systemic therapies.

Hypofractionated and single-fraction radiosurgery for brain metastases with sex as a key predictor of overall survival

Overall survival (OS) of patients with brain metastases treated with hypofractionated (HFSRT) or single-fraction (SRS) radiosurgery depends on several prognostic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of sex as an independent predictor of OS and evaluate the predictive accuracy of common prognostic scores. Retrospective analysis of 281 consecutive patients receiving radiosurgery of brain metastases was performed. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare OS between SRS and HFSRT and by sex, before and after propensity-score matching (PSM) on key baseline prognostic covariates. Prognostic scores were evaluated using Harrell's concordance index. Median OS was 11 months after both SRS and HFSRT. After PSM, median OS was 12 months after SRS (95% CI: 7.5-16.5) and 9 months after HFSRT (95% CI: 5.0-13.0; p = 0.77). Independent prognostic factors were sex, primary tumor, KPI, and systemic disease status. Median OS was 16 months for women and 7 months for male patients (p < 0.001). After excluding sex specific tumors, PSM revealed a median OS of 16 months for women and 8 months for male patients (p < 0.01). Evaluation of prognostic indices showed BSBM to be the most accurate (Harrell's C = 0.68), followed by SIR (0.61), GPA (0.60), RPA (0.58), and Rades et al. (0.57). OS after HFSRT and SRS did not differ, although PSM revealed a non-significant advantage for SRS. Female sex was found to be a major independent positive prognostic factor for survival, and thus should be considered in the personalized decision-making of brain metastases treatment.

Standard maintenance therapy versus local consolidative radiation therapy and standard maintenance therapy in 1-5 sites of oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer: a study protocol of phase III randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Two-phase II randomised studies have shown a significant benefit of local consolidation therapy in oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This phase III randomised controlled trial (RCT) will evaluate the efficacy of local consolidation radiation therapy (RT) in oligometastases (OM) NSCLC after completion of initial systemic therapy.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This is a single-centre phase III RCT of OM NSCLC patients. One hundred and ninety patients will undergo 1:1 randomisation to either standard maintenance therapy (control arm) or local consolidation RT and standard maintenance therapy (experimental arm). Patients will be stratified into the number of OM sites (1-2 vs 3-5), nodal metastases (N0-N1 vs N2-N3) and presence or absence of brain metastases. Stereotactic body radiation therapy to all the oligometastatic sites and definitive RT to primary disease will be given in the experimental arm. The primary endpoint is overall survival and secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, local control of OM sites, new distant metastases free survival, objective response rate, toxicity and quality of life. Translation endpoint include circulating tumour cells and radiomics using texture analysis.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

All patients will be provided with a written informed consent form which needs to be signed before randomisation. The study is approved by the institutional ethics committee-II (project number 3445) and registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India, dated 21 April 2020.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

CTRI/2020/04/024761; Pre-Results.

Protocol for a phase II randomised controlled trial of TKI alone versus TKI and local consolidative radiation therapy in patients with oncogene driver-mutated oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer

INTRODUCTION

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have significantly improved the progression-free survival (PFS) of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with oncogene mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) compared with systemic therapy alone. However, the majority eventually develop resistance with a median PFS of 8-12 months. The pattern of failure studies showed disease relapse at the original sites of the disease-harbouring resistant tumour cells.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This study is designed as a phase II randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of local consolidative radiation therapy (LCRT) in addition to TKI in upfront oligometastatic NSCLC. Patients will be screened at presentation for oligometastases (≤5 sites) and will start on TKI after confirmation of EGFR or ALK mutation status. After initial TKI for 2-4 months, eligible patients will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio with stratification of oligometastatic sites (1-3 vs 4-5), performance status of 0-1 versus 2 and brain metastases. The standard arm will continue to receive TKI, and the intervention arm will receive TKI plus LCRT. Stereotactic body radiation therapy will be delivered to all the oligometastatic sites.The primary end point is PFS, and secondary end points are overall survival, local control of oligometastatic sites, toxicity and patient-reported outcomes. The sample size calculation took a median PFS of 10 months in the standard arm. To detect an absolute improvement of 7 months in the interventional arm, with a one-sided alpha of 5% and 80% power, a total of 106 patients will be accrued over a period of 48 months.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study is approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee II of Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, and registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India, CTRI/2019/11/021872, dated 5 November 2019. All eligible participants will be provided with a participant information sheet and will be required to provide written informed consent for participation in the study. The study results will be presented at a national/international conference and will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

A risk stratification scheme for synchronous oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer developed by a multicentre analysis

BACKGROUNDS

Oligometastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients represent a category without a standard therapeutic approach. However, in selected oligometastatic NSCLC, radical surgery seems to offer a good prognosis. This retrospective study aimed to analyse the long-term outcomes of synchronous oligometastatic patients treated with curative intent and identify the factors associated with better results and the proposal of a risk stratification system for classifying the synchronous oligometastatic NSCLC.

METHODS

The medical records of patients from 18 centres with pathologically diagnosed synchronous oligometastatic NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusion criteria were synchronous oligometastatic NSCLC, radical surgical treatment of the primary tumour with or without neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy and radical treatment of all metastatic sites. The Kaplan - Meier method estimated survivals. A stratified backward stepwise Cox regression model was assessed for multivariable survival analyses.

RESULTS

281 patients were included. The most common site of metastasis was the brain, in 50.89 % patients. Median overall survival was 40 months (95 % CI: 29-53). Age ≤65 years (HR = 1.02, 95 % CI: 1.00-1.05; p = 0.019), single metastasis (HR = 0.71, 95 % CI: 0.45-1.13; p = 0.15) and presence of contralateral lung metastases (HR = 0.30, 95 % CI: 0.15 - 0.62; p = 0.001) were associated with a good prognosis. The presence of pathological N2 metastases negatively affected survival (HR = 2.00, 95 % CI: 1.21-3.32; p = 0.0065). These prognostic factors were used to build a simple risk classification scheme.

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment of selected synchronous oligometastatic NSCLC with curative purpose could be conducted safely and at acceptable 5-year survival levels, especially in younger patients with pN0 disease.

Management of oligo-metastatic and oligo-recurrent cervical cancer: A pattern of care survey within the EMBRACE research network

BACKGROUND

In the metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer, systemic chemotherapy constitutes the main treatment. Though there is an increasing use of high dose external radiation and brachytherapy in the metastatic setting, no consensus exists.

METHODS

A 17-item survey was designed with additional case-based questions to explore present management of oligo-metastatic and oligo-recurrent cervix cancer within EMBRACE research group participating sites. The questions were designed to elicit prevailing practices in the management of de-novo oligo-metastasis and oligo-recurrent setting after completing the primary treatment of cervix cancer. The survey was sent electronically with two rounds of email reminders to respond over a 2-week survey period. The online survey was designed such that it was mandatory to complete all questions. The responses were recorded and results were summarized as proportions and summary statistics were generated.

RESULTS

Twenty-two centers responded to this survey. A majority (90%) of respondents reported a low incidence of de-novo oligo-metastatic cervical cancer in their practice (<5%), with a higher proportion of patients with oligo-recurrence after completing primary treatment (5-10%). All responding sites preferred to treat pelvic disease in the de-novo oligo-metastatic setting albeit with different fractionation regimens. While 68.2% of respondents recommended chemo-radiation and brachytherapy, 31.8% considered additional systemic therapy. Overall 77.3% centers recommended the use of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy to oligo-metastasis. For out-of-field nodal recurrences, 63.7% of respondents considered treating with curative intent, while 59% preferred treating in-field recurrence with palliative intent. A vast majority of the participating centers (90%) have stereotactic radiation therapy capacity and would consider a clinical trial addressing oligo-metastatic and oligo-recurrent cervical cancer.

CONCLUSION

Although contemporary practice is variable, a substantial proportion of EMBRACE centers consider high dose radiation in de-novo metastatic and oligo-recurrence settings. However, there is clear need for a joint clinical protocol and prospective studies to address the role of high dose radiation within oligo-recurrent and oligo-metastatic scenarios.

GOECP/SEOR clinical recommendations for lung cancer radiotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 crisis has had a major and highly complex impact on the clinical practice of radiation oncology worldwide. Spain is one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, with devastating consequences. There is an urgent need to share experiences and offer guidance on decision-making with regard to the indications and standards for radiation therapy in the treatment of lung cancer. In the present article, the Oncological Group for the Study of Lung Cancer of the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology reviews the literature and establishes a series of consensus-based recommendations for the treatment of patients with lung cancer in different clinical scenarios during the present pandemic.

Recursive partitioning model-based analysis for survival of colorectal cancer patients with lung and liver oligometastases treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy

INTRODUCTION

Liver and lung are common sites of metastases from colorectal cancer (CRC). Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) represents a valid treatment, with high rates of local control (LC). In this study, we applied recursive partitioning model-based analysis (RPA) to define class risks for overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) in oligometastatic CRC patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this monocentric analysis, we included patients with lung or liver metastases. Patients were candidate to SBRT if a maximum of 5 metastases. End points of the present analysis were LC, PFS, and OS. The binary classification tree approach with RPA was applied to stratify the patients into risk groups based on OS and PFS.

RESULTS

218 patients were treated with SBRT on 371 metastases. Majority of patients (56%) was treated on single lesion, followed by 2 (26.1%) and 3 lesions (14.7%). Median follow-up was 22.7 months. Rates of LC were 84.2% at 1 year and 73.8% at 3 years. Rates of PFS at 1 and 3 years were 42.2% and 14.9%, respectively. RPA identified 3 classes for PFS, according to age and number of metastases with 3-year PFS of 30.6%, 13.5% and 8.4%. Overall survival was 87.2% at 1 year, 51.9% at 3 years, and 36.8% at 5 years. RPA identified 3 nodes. Class 1 included patients with liver metastases (3-year OS 35.2%). Class 2 included patients with lung metastases and DFI ≤ 48 months (3-year OS 65%). Class 3 included patients with lung metastases and DFI > 48 months (3-year OS 73.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Stereotactic body radiation therapy can be considered an effective treatment for the management of liver and lung metastases from CRC. With RPA, we identified prognostic risk class to define patients who could benefit the most from SBRT.

A Review of Ongoing Trials of Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy for Oligometastatic Cancers: Where Will the Evidence Lead?

Purpose: The oligometastatic state is a proposed entity between localized cancer and widely metastatic disease, comprising an intermediate subset of metastatic cancer patients. Most data to support locally-directed treatment, such as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), for oligometastases are from retrospective institutional reports. Following the success of a recently completed and reported phase II trial demonstrating important clinical outcomes, herein we review the current landscape of ongoing clinical trials in this context. Materials and methods: A review of currently activated and registered clinical trials was performed using the clinicaltrials.gov database from inception to February 2019. A search of actively recruiting trials, using the key words oligometastases, SABR, and various related terms was performed. Search results were independently reviewed by two investigators, with discrepancies settled by a third. Data abstracted from identified studies included study type, primary disease site, oncologic endpoints, and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Results: Of the initial 216 entries identified, 64 met our review eligibility criteria after full-text review. The most common study type was a phase II clinical trial (n = 35, 55%) with other study designs ranging from observational registry trials to phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A minority of trials were randomized in design (n = 17, 27%). While most studies allowed for metastases from multiple primary disease sites (n = 22, 34%), the most common was prostate (n = 13, 15%), followed by breast, gastrointestinal, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and renal (n = 6, 9% each). In studies with a solitary target site, the most common was liver (n = 6, 9%) followed by lung (n = 3, 5%). The most common primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) (n = 20, 31%) and toxicity (n = 10, 16%). A combined strategy of systemic therapy and SABR was an emerging theme (n = 23, 36%), with more recent studies specifically evaluating SABR and immunotherapy (n = 9, 14%). Conclusion: The safety and efficacy of SABR as oligometastasis-directed treatment is increasingly being evaluated within prospective clinical trials. These data are awaited to compliment the abundance of existing observational studies and to guide clinical decision-making.