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Two recent studies have looked at the effect of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors or immune checkpoint inhibitors on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) metastases and survival.
In the first study, a total of 17 patients with stable metastatic RCC were assessed. The effect of SBRT on the target metastasis was compared to a control metastasis that was similar in size and in the same organ and wasn’t treated with SBRT. The target metastasis responded to treatment in 76% of cases, with 29% complete response, and there was little toxicity. Control metastases remained stable in size compared with metastases targeted with SBRT.
In patients with metastatic RCC, the use of SBRT in conjunction with systemic therapy may be an effective treatment strategy, but the effect on overall survival is unknown.
The second study was designed to investigate the effect of adding SBRT to TKI treatment on survival outcomes in patients with metastatic RCC. This study concluded that adding SBRT to TKI therapy is safe and seems to improve survival in metastatic RCC. Patients who were treated with SBRT before TKI stopped working had a higher complete response rate, which may result in a survival benefit.
