SABR-tooth treatments.

We’ve brought home with us from #ASTRO2017 more than sunburns and jet lag. We now have inklings of hope for a huge paradigm change in the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We’re actually talking about something other than immunotherapy this time, and it is razor-sharp: ablative treatments of oligomets. Initial reporting of a phase II trial assessing stereotactic ablative radiation (SABR) for oligometastatic NSCLC patients--who did not progress on initial standard chemo--showed big improvements (think almost 3-fold) in progression-free survival times. What’s not big? The n of 29. Also holding this back from big practice changes is its endpoint...one arguably inherent to the randomization. Fortunately, our doubts will be assuaged (or confirmed) with the combined phase III component currently accruing for a primary endpoint of overall survival...and we’ll be reporting it as soon as we can to help keep you sharp on the latest advancements.