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Aadil Najeed, Senior Resident at Government Medical College Srinagar, shared on LinkedIn:
“Can radiotherapy help patients stay on an otherwise effective immunotherapy?
A new systematic review and meta-analysis in OncoImmunology (2026) offers an encouraging answer.
In metastatic NSCLC, some patients develop progression in only a few lesions while the remaining disease stays controlled on immunotherapy. This is where local ablative radiotherapy, predominantly SBRT, may make a difference.
By targeting these resistant lesions, radiotherapy may allow patients to continue the same immunotherapy rather than immediately switching systemic treatment.
The findings are encouraging:
- Progression-free survival: HR 0.45 (approximately 55% lower hazard of progression or death).
- Overall survival: HR 0.41 (approximately 59% lower hazard of death).
The message is simple:
- Treat the progressing lesions.
- Preserve the benefit of effective immunotherapy.
- Give radiotherapy a meaningful role in managing oligoprogression.
The evidence is still largely observational, and randomized confirmation is needed. But it reinforces the importance of considering radiotherapy when only a few lesions escape systemic disease control.
Radiotherapy is not always about changing the systemic treatment. Sometimes, it can help us continue what is already working.”
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