Incorporating Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy into the Multidisciplinary Management of Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) has challenged the conventional wisdom surrounding the radioresistance of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In the past decade, there has been a significant accumulation of clinical data to support the safety and efficacy of SABR in RCC. Herein, we review the use of SABR across the spectrum of RCC. We performed an online search of the Pubmed database from January 1990 through April 2023. Studies of SABR/stereotactic radiosurgery targeting primary, extracranial, and intracranial metastatic RCC were included. For SABR in non-metastatic RCC, this includes its use in small renal masses, larger renal masses, and inferior vena cava tumor thrombi. In the metastatic setting, SABR can be used at diagnosis, for oligometastatic and oligoprogressive disease, and for symptomatic reasons. Notably, SABR can be used for both the primary renal tumor and metastasis-directed therapy. Management of RCC is evolving rapidly, and the role that SABR will have in this landscape is being assessed in a number of ongoing prospective clinical trials. The objective of this narrative review is to summarize the evidence corroborating the use of SABR in RCC.

Treatment of Brain Metastases: The Synergy of Radiotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Brain metastases are a devastating sequela of common primary cancers (e.g., lung, breast, and skin) and have limited effective therapeutic options. Previously, systemic chemotherapy failed to demonstrate significant benefit in patients with brain metastases, but in recent decades, targeted therapies and more recently immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have yielded promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. Furthermore, there is significant interest in harnessing the immunomodulatory effects of radiotherapy (RT) to synergize with ICIs. Herein, we discuss studies evaluating the impact of RT dose and fractionation on the immune response, early studies supporting the synergistic interaction between RT and ICIs, and ongoing clinical trials assessing the benefit of combination therapy in patients with brain metastases.