BTOG 2023 | SYSTEMS-2: higher dose of radiotherapy increases life expectancy for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Anthony Chalmers, MD, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, shares the results of the randomized Phase II SYSTEMS-2 trial of standard versus a higher dose of radiotherapy for the treatment of pain in malignant pleural mesothelioma. The primary objective of the study was to assess whether the escalated dose works better to manage pain, a significant problem for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Secondary objectives included acute toxicity, overall-survival (OS) and quality of life (QoL). The higher dose radiotherapy was found to be associated with a small increase in the number of patients experiencing pain control, the difference was not statistically significant. However, a statistically significant overall-survival (OS) was observed with patients receiving the higher dose of radiotherapy. Although the data is not yet mature, the results are promising. Additionally, approximately half of patients appeared to benefit significantly more from a higher dose of radiotherapy, thus ongoing studies are currently underway to identify biomarkers to select for these patients. This interview took place at the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) Annual Conference 2023 in Belfast, UK.

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