• Dr. Terence M. Williams recently spoke at the Cure Educated Patient Lung Cancer Summit about advancements in radiation treatment for those with lung cancer.
• These improvements may mean shorter radiation courses or more targeted treatment.
• One form of combination treatment, chemoradioimmunotherapy, has proven particularly promising in late-stage testing.

A hybrid treatment for lung cancer combining chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy shows promise, according to Dr. Terence M. Williams. Dr. Williams recently spoke about chemoradioimmunotherapy and other improvements in radiation therapy at Cure’s Educated Patient Lung Cancer Summit. A professor and chair of the department of oncology at City of Hope National Medical Center, Dr. Williams sat down with Cure to explore these advances and how they might help those living with lung cancer.

“I think radiation has roles in all stages of lung cancers,” Dr. Williams told Cure. He noted that a large body of research is currently devoted to investigating the different subtypes of lung cancer in hopes of identifying which may be more or less responsive to radiotherapy.

One promising treatment Dr. Williams discussed was chemoradioimmunotherapy, a combination of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy. Referencing the results of a 2019 phase 3 clinical trial, Dr. Williams noted that the development of the treatment has improved the field of radiation and treatment for stage 3 lung cancer.

The trial assessed reported outcomes from people living with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who, after undergoing chemotherapy, had received durvalumab, an experimental biologic immunotherapy drug. In a recent update to the trial, researchers stated that the treatment was “associated with significant improvements in the primary end points of overall survival … with manageable safety.”

In the randomized study, 709 out of 713 participants received durvalumab or a placebo after undergoing chemotherapy. Nearly 50 percent of the participants who’d taken durvalumab were still alive four years later, compared to around 36 percent who’d taken the placebo. Moreover, around 35 percent who’d taken the drug remained alive and progression-free after four years, compared to just under 20 percent of those who’d taken the placebo.

Dr. Williams also discussed how advancements in diagnostic and staging tools have equipped doctors with “even more improved ways to image the tumors and better target the radiation beams to those tumors.”

“It could lead to shorter courses of radiation …” he noted, “or for treatment in patients with small amount of metastatic disease.” Shorter courses of radiation may mean fewer visits to the cancer center and even fewer side effects of radiation, such as skin rash, nausea, loss of appetite, and fatigue.

Dr. Williams emphasized the importance of self-education and advocacy when beginning or undergoing treatment for lung cancer. “I think it’s important for patients to learn about advances in radiation because it could lead to better treatment for them,” he said.