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Review
. 2022 Nov 30;14(23):5929.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14235929.

Radiotherapy of the Primary Disease for Synchronous Metastatic Cancer: A Systematic Review

Youssef Ghannam  1 , Adrien Laville  2 , Youlia Kirova  3 , Igor Latorzeff  4 , Antonin Levy  5   6 , Yuedan Zhou  2 , Vincent Bourbonne  7
Affiliations
Review

Radiotherapy of the Primary Disease for Synchronous Metastatic Cancer: A Systematic Review

Youssef Ghannam et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

In the case of synchronous metastatic disease, the local treatment of primary tumors by radiotherapy has long been reserved for palliative indications. The emergence of the concept of oligometastatic and oligopersistent diseases, the advent of new systemic therapies enabling longer overall survival with an enhanced quality of life, a better understanding of the biologic history of metastatic spread, and technical advances in radiation therapy are revolutionizing the management of patients with de novo metastatic cancer. The prognosis of these patients has been markedly improved and many studies have investigated the survival benefits from the local treatment of various primary tumors in cases of advanced disease at the time of diagnosis or in the case of oligopersistence. This article provides an update on the place of irradiation of the primary tumor in cancer with synchronous metastases, and discusses its interest through published or ongoing trials.

Keywords: locoregional treatment; metastatic cancer; oligometastatic cancer; primary tumor; radiotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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