Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute researchers present key findings at ASTRO meeting
Investigators from Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute will present research discoveries as well as outcomes from clinical trials in cancer at the 2026 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting, held September 26-30, in Boston.
Among the presentations from Mass General Brigham investigators are testing whether darolutamide + radiation could replace standard of care therapy for men with prostate cancer; a plenary session exploring the benefit of radiation all at once (SRS) vs. several different treatments (fractionated SRS/fSRS) for patients with brain metastases; and exploring whether major radiation therapy clinical trials for metastases give doctors enough practical information to reliably reproduce treatments used in the trials.
Highlights from this year’s presentations are below. All times are EST.
- When: Sunday, Sept. 27, 3:00-3:10 p.m.
- Who: Martin King, MD, Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute
- What: For intermediate-risk prostate cancer, the addition of six-months of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to a higher dose of radiation therapy (known as EBRT) reduces the risks of tumor growth and spread. However, ADT has been associated with erectile dysfunction and decreased libido. For the INTREPID randomized trial (NCT04025372), the team hypothesized that the androgen receptor pathway inhibitor darolutamide + EBRT could be used in place of ADT + EBRT for improving erectile quality-of-life without sacrificing oncologic control. The team reported that darolutamide combined with external beam radiation therapy did not achieve the study's primary goal of demonstrating comparable early PSA suppression. Three-year PSA control results will be reported with further follow-up.
- When: Monday, Sept. 28, 2:02-2:12 p.m.
- Who: Ayal Aizer, MD, Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute
- This late breaking session is under embargo until the presentation date and time
- When: Monday, Sept. 28, 3:10-3:20 p.m.
- Who: Kevin Liu, MD, Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute
- What: Retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) is a rare cancer that grows deep in the abdomen. Even after extensive surgery, the cancer often comes back in the same area, especially along the back edge of the tumor where it can be difficult for surgeons to remove every cancer cell. In this study, researchers tested whether giving radiation therapy before surgery, with an extra-high dose targeted to the area at greatest risk of recurrence, could help prevent the cancer from returning. Overall, findings suggest that delivering a higher dose of radiation to the area most likely to harbor remaining cancer cells before surgery may improve local tumor control in patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma while maintaining an acceptable safety profile.
- When: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2:55-3:05 p.m.
- Who: Sarah Quirk, PhD, Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute
- What: Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials establish standards of care in radiation oncology; however, reliable translation of trial results into routine practice depends on reproducible protocol implementation. Dr. Quirk and team performed a quality improvement focused systematic review to identify gaps in reporting that may limit implementation and contribute to variability in clinical practice. They identified Phase 2 and 3 randomized clinical trials involving adult patients in which radiotherapy was the primary intervention and accrual was completed between 2016 and 2019. The team found that high-impact radiation oncology trials demonstrate substantial deficiencies in reporting elements essential for reproducible clinical implementation. These findings support the development of minimum reporting and publishing standards, with early and sustained medical physicist involvement, as a scalable quality improvement strategy to strengthen trial-to-practice translation.
Media contact
Alex Pantano
Senior Specialist, External Communications
apantano@mgb.org
About Mass General Brigham
Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.