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In this presentation at the 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting held in Washington, USA earlier this week, Dr Shankar Siva, Radiation Oncologist from the University of Melbourne, Australia discussed whether stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for the treatment of primary kidney cancer is ready for ‘primetime’.
Dr Siva reviewed the use of ablative techniques for the treatment of kidney cancer, and compared them to surgery. He then discussed the history of the use of radiotherapy for the treatment of kidney cancer and the development of SABR. Since 2006, there have been more than a dozen prospective studies looking at SABR for the treatment of primary kidney cancer and 265 patients have been enrolled in clinical trials of SABR for primary kidney cancer. The outcomes of these studies are similar to those reported for thermal ablation, even when accounting for the fact that there was zero re-treatment for SABR. Importantly, kidney function was similar to that seen after partial nephrectomy. He then went on to summarise the results from some of these studies.
He then goes on to discuss the optimal dose regime for SABR, the use of post-SABR biopsies, SABR for people with a single kidney, and the best post-treatment follow-up schedule.
Dr Siva concluded by noting that the future may need a comparative randomised trial of SABR versus surgery. But, for the time being, SABR for the treatment of primary kidney cancer is ready for ’primetime’.
