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DATE: December 3, 2004
SUBJECT: RTOG STUDIES TO BE TERMINATED
The following list describes the RTOG studies to be terminated (all study activity and data collection ceased; terminated at your local IRB) as of 12/17/04. Any data received after this date will be returned. Thank you.
| RTOG | RTOG-INTERGROUP |
8903
9506
9305
9310
9508
9513
0018
8911
9812
9505
9610
9905 | 8422
8706
9014
9101
9110
9415
9418
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Web registration is available 24/7. Information and instructions are at https://silver1.phila.acr.org/Clinical_RTOG/pgIndex.html
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DATE: May 20, 2004
SUBJECT: Message From the Group Chair - Results of RTOG 9508 Published in the Lancet
Message From the Group Chair
On behalf of all members of the RTOG, the RTOG Brain Tumor Committee and the study co-authors, I am pleased to transmit this press release and the final manuscript from RTOG 9508, the phase III trial for patients with 1-3 brain metastases comparing whole brain RT with versus without stereotactic radiosurgery boost. This report is published as the lead article in Lancet this week and reports a statistically significant improvement in survival in the pre-defined cohort of those patients with a single metastasis. For such patients the median survival time is 33% longer with the radiosurgery boost. It is possible that this report could alter the standard of care for such patients. Please feel free to share this information and the press release with your colleagues and media contacts as well as your institution.
Thanks!
Wally Curran
Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
1101 Market Street, 14th Floor • Philadelphia, PA 19107 • www.rtog.org • www.acr.org
press release
New Less-Invasive Treatment Dramatically Increases Survival Rates and Improves Quality of Life for Patients with Brain Metastases
Philadelphia, PA, May 20, 2004 - Whole brain radiation therapy followed by a stereotactic radiosurgery boosts survival rates for patients with a single, unresectable brain metastasis by more than 33 percent and improves the activity level of all patients, according to a new study by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), a grantee organization of the American College of Radiology (ACR). The findings of the multicenter clinical trial will be reported in the May 22 issue of the The Lancet.
"These are the first prospective randomized data addressing radiosurgery for the treatment of brain metastases, and we were pleased to demonstrate that radiosurgery actually provides a therapeutic benefit for patients with a single brain metastasis,” says first author David W. Andrews, M.D., Professor of Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University. “We have demonstrated survival benefit and a better quality of life after radiosurgery. We hope this analysis will provide practicing oncologists with more treatment options when confronted with this challenging problem."
Brain metastases occur in up to 40 percent of cancer patients. The prognosis for these patients is generally poor with a median survival time of one to two months for patients treated with steroids and four to six months for patients treated with standard radiation therapy. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a technique that involves a single treatment of high-dose radiation precisely focused at the brain metastasis. In current practice SRS is frequently prescribed as a less invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of brain metastases. In this trial, patients with one to three brain metastases were randomized to receive 15 treatments of whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) with or without SRS to their brain metastases. This study, RTOG 9508, opened for patient accrual in January 1996 and closed in June 2001. The trial enrolled 333 patients at 55 RTOG member institutions from across the United States and Canada.
Study data show an improvement in survival from 4.9 months to 6.5 months for patients with a single brain metastasis treated with WBRT plus SRS. Patients with multiple brain metastases treated with the addition of SRS did not show a statistically significant improvement in survival, but they were more likely to show an improvement in their performance status, a quality of life measure, with no increase in treatment side effects.
“This trial has changed the practice pattern for patients with one to three unresectable brain metastases. Given the demonstrated improved performance of all patients treated on this trial with the radiosurgery boost, this should be the standard of care for this patient population,” said Walter J. Curran, Jr., M.D., FACR, senior author of the study and RTOG Chairman and Clinical Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University. “This trial builds on our 30 years experience in brain metastases research. This is the first prospective trial to demonstrate a survival benefit for a new non-operative approach for patients with brain metastases.”
Study authors include: David W. Andrews, M.D., Walter J. Curran, Jr., M.D., Adam E. Flanders, M.D., and Maria Werner-Wasik, M.D., from Thomas Jefferson University; Charles Scott, Ph.D., from the American College of Radiology; Paul W. Sperduto, M.D., from the Metro Minneapolis CCOP; Laurie E. Gaspar, M.D., from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Michael C. Schell, Ph.D., from the University of Rochester Cancer Center; William Demas, M.D., from Akron City Hospital; Janice Ryu, M.D., from the University of California Davis Medical Center; Jean-Paul Bahary, M.D., from Notre Dame Hospital/University of Montreal; Louis Souhami, M.D., from McGill University; Marvin Rotman, M.D., from the SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn; and Minesh P. Mehta, M.D., from the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
The national study entitled RTOG 9508: Phase III Randomized Trial Comparing Whole Brain Radiation Therapy with or without Stereotactic Radiosurgery Boost for Patients with One to Three Brain Metastases, was coordinated by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), with participation from its member institutions. The National Cancer Institute funded the study.
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The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) is the clinical research component of the American College of Radiology (ACR), located in the ACR Philadelphia, PA office. RTOG is a multi-institutional international clinical cooperative group funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute. RTOG has over 30 years of experience in conducting clinical trials and is comprised of over 250 major research institutions in the United States and Canada. The group currently is conducting more than 40 active studies that involve radiation therapy alone or in conjunction with surgery and/or chemotherapeutic drugs or which investigate quality of life issues and their effects on the cancer patient.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) is a national professional organization serving more than 32,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
Lancet Brain Mets Reprint
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