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Focused Radiation versus Systemic Therapy for Kidney Cancer Patients with Limited Metastasis, SOAR Trial

Trial Status: closed to accrual

This phase III trial compares the effect of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SAbR) followed by standard of care systemic therapy, to standard of care systemic therapy alone, in patients with renal cell carcinoma or RCC (the most common type of kidney cancer) that has spread from where it first started (primary site) to a limited number of places in the body (metastatic). There are patients with metastatic RCC who have limited metastatic disease (oligometastatic). In patients with advanced oligometastatic disease, radiation therapy as a local treatment of metastatic lesions may be beneficial (without systemic therapy and associated toxicity and costs). Previous small-scale studies have demonstrated that SAbR alone can control oligometastatic RCC for some time, which may be comparable to the control afforded by systemic therapies. However, to confirm this finding, larger scale studies like this must be performed to check whether SAbR can become a standard option for such patients in the future. Radiotherapy uses high energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. SAbR is a type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position a patient and precisely deliver radiation to tumors in the body (except the brain). The total dose of radiation is divided into smaller doses given over several days. This type of radiation therapy helps spare normal tissue. SAbR may allow patients to live longer with better quality of life. SAbR may delay or possibly eliminate the need for systemic therapy and its more serious side effects. Giving SAbR prior to systemic therapy may kill the tumor cells more efficiently than the usual approach with systemic therapy alone.