Radiotherapy and Locoregional Therapy

Where local control still decides outcomes: dose escalation and adaptive planning, short-course versus long-course scheduling, ablative and intra-arterial techniques, and when radiotherapy can safely be withheld.

6 articles in this topic

• August 20, 2026Journal of Clinical OncologyNRG Oncology/RTOG 0848 (NCT01013649)

  Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Misses Overall Survival Goal, but May Help Node-Negative Pancreatic Cancer

  The Step 2 randomization of NRG Oncology/RTOG 0848, a phase III trial of 354 patients with resected pancreatic head adenocarcinoma, found that adding chemoradiotherapy (CXRT) to adjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly improve overall survival across the full study population.

• August 14, 2026Clinical Cancer ResearchFLARE-RT (NCT02773238)

  PET-Guided Adaptive Radiation Boost Improves Local Control in Unresectable NSCLC

  The Phase II FLARE-RT trial used mid-treatment FDG-PET response to selectively boost radiation dose (to 74 Gy, peak >90 Gy) only in the roughly one-third of unresectable NSCLC patients whose tumors were not responding, while treating responders with standard 60 Gy chemoradiation.

• August 10, 2026Journal of Clinical OncologyNRG Oncology RTOG 0539 (NCT00895622)

  10-Year Data Validate Risk-Adapted Meningioma Strategy: Observation, Then Selective Radiotherapy

  Long-term follow-up (median exceeding 10 years) of NRG Oncology RTOG 0539 validates a risk-adapted meningioma strategy: observation after gross total or subtotal resection for low-risk (WHO grade 1) disease, and radiotherapy for intermediate- and high-risk disease.

• August 6, 2026Journal of Clinical OncologySTELLAR (NCT02533271)

  Short-Course Radiotherapy-Based TNT Improves 5-Year Overall Survival in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

  The phase III STELLAR trial (NCT02533271) randomly assigned 591 patients with distal or middle-third locally advanced rectal cancer to a short-course radiotherapy-based total neoadjuvant therapy regimen (SCRT-TNT) or standard long-course chemoradiotherapy (CRT); this update reports 5-year outcomes at a median follow-up of 68.7 months.

• July 30, 2026JAMA OncologyTORCH (NCT02435953)

  TACE Plus Thermal Ablation Nearly Halves Progression Risk in Intermediate-Stage Liver Cancer

  Phase 3 TORCH trial (241 patients, two tertiary centers in China, enrolled 2015-2024) randomized adults with unresectable, liver-confined, intermediate-stage (BCLC stage B) hepatocellular carcinoma 1:1 to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus sequential radiofrequency ablation versus TACE alone.

• July 13, 2026JAMA OncologyTREASURE (AIO-TRK-0320; NCT04462276)

  Adding Consolidative Thoracic Radiotherapy to Atezolizumab Maintenance Increases Toxicity Without Survival Benefit in Extensive-Stage SCLC: The Phase 2 TREASURE Trial

  Multicenter, open-label, randomized phase 2 trial (TREASURE, AIO-TRK-0320) at 20 sites in Germany and Austria testing whether adding consolidative thoracic radiotherapy (TRT, 30 Gy in 10 fractions) to atezolizumab maintenance improves overall survival in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) after induction chemoimmunotherapy; 96 patients screened, 68 randomized 1:1