Signals from SABR-COMET time to move on to phase III studies

Oligometastases represent the clinical state where metastases are limited in number and extent, and potentially amenable to definitive metastases-directed (i.e., surgical or ablative) treatment (1). Systemic therapy is the standard treatment for metastatic cancer, though over the past decade, emerging data have supported the role of surgery or radical irradiation for oligometastatic patients (2,3). The notion that metastasis-directed therapy could improve cancer control and survival outcomes date back decades (4-6), with Hellman and Weichselbaum initially coining the term “oligometastases” and formulating and refining the hypothesis in 1995 (7).