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Proud to see RTOG1112 RCT published!. Thanks to so many who helped make this possible. #teamwork ‘Hope the next #SBRT #HCC trials are completed much faster. @NRGonc @TedHong9 @Dr_AliHosni @ArndtVogel @aislingbarryro
Nice summary of the trial below from @NiuSanford
RTOG 1112 finally out! Sorafenib +/- SBRT in HCC.
Congrats to @ldawsonmd & team.
Brief summary here & some of my thoughts.
Short thread 🧵. 1/
Laura Dawson retweeted
🔥HARMONi-GI1 ph3 advanced #BTC
➡️ivonescimab/GC v durva/GC mFU 14.3mths; China only & interim
✅ iCCA 58% ORR 53.8v32.5%; mPFS 8.4 v 5.8mths
✅mOS 14.9 v12.1mths HR0.75
➡️AE rate high in both
Control arm OS represents❗️VEGF in BTC ⭐️ looks promising
@myESMO #ESMO26 @OncoAlert
Laura Dawson retweeted
🚨📣 big news at #ESMO26: 🧵1/MASTERPLAN RCT shows adding SABR to perioperative chemotherapy for high-risk localized #pancreatic cancer ⬆️⬆️ median overall survival to 22.0 months vs 14.0 months (HR 0.45). #PancreaticCancer #RadOnc @TROGfightcancer in press @TheLancetOncol - thelancet.com/journals/lanon…
Laura Dawson retweeted
MASTERPLAN full publication is out!!
The RT volumes are worth a closer look. CTV = primary GTV + nodal GTV + tumour-vessel interface. The TVI extends 5 mm proximally and 5 mm distally along involved/closely adjacent vessels, for patients where surgery is likely. PTV = CTV/ITV + 5 mm. No elective nodal irradiation, and no elective perineural or celiac/SMA plexus volume specified in the protocol. That is a focused target, with gross nodal disease included.
Real-time RTQA is a big part of this story. Review identified 36 major planning deviations in 12 patients, reduced to 2 deviations in 2 patients after QA. All plans passed independent review before treatment. As a radiation oncologist, I want that detail alongside the outcomes. Reproducing the treatment means reproducing the contour review, OAR constraints and image guidance too.
Also worth keeping the treatment delivery denominator in view: only 40/49 patients assigned to SBRT actually received it (82%). The efficacy analysis is intention-to-treat. It should not be read as an outcome series of patients who all completed SBRT.
The surgical numbers need some unpacking. All comparisons below are chemo + SBRT vs chemo alone:
✅ Underwent surgery: 62% vs 44% (29/47 vs 11/25).
✅ Completed resection: 53% vs 44% (25/47 vs 11/25).
✅ R0 among all resected patients: 52% vs 36% (13/25 vs 4/11).
✅ R0 in the resected POPC subset: 62% vs 40% (13/21 vs 4/10).
POPC is the potentially operable cohort. So the 62% surgery figure includes exploration without resection, while the 62% R0 figure applies only to resected POPC patients. These are different endpoints with different denominators. None of those between-arm surgical comparisons was statistically significant. The paper also defines R0 as more than 1 mm clearance.
Adjuvant chemo is another important difference: 80% vs 36% of resected patients received it (20/25 vs 4/11). That complicates attribution within the treatment pathway. Early progression in the control group may have contributed, so this is a post-randomisation imbalance with more than one possible explanation. The post-hoc analyses were directionally consistent, but the authors explicitly caution about selection bias.
For the planning details: PTV_EVAL excluded the GI PRVs, with a minimum 3 mm PRV expansion. OAR constraints took priority over target coverage. Duodenum, stomach and small bowel D0.5cc were each constrained to <33 Gy, with V30 <5 cc. Delivery used standard linacs; breath hold was recommended, and fiducials were placed in 35/40 patients (88%). This is relevant to how we would implement the approach in practice.
With no elective nodes, isolated regional nodal relapse was 4% vs 8% (2/49 vs 2/25). Reassuring, although that does not establish the optimal elective volume (especially considering these patients went to surgery - ASTRO/NRG recommends inclusion of elective perineural coverage). Overall G3+ AEs were 70% vs 64% (33/47 vs 16/25). One G3 pancreatitis and one G2 small bowel obstruction were attributed to SBRT. The practical takeaway for me is to keep the target definition and prospective QA attached to the results, and to be precise about what the surgery and R0 numbers actually measure.
Laura Dawson retweeted
Congratulations to three clinicians @UHN @pmcancercentre on receiving 2026 Clinician Scientist Awards from @marathonofhope @tfri_research. The awards provide funding to support their innovative research aimed at improving cancer care in precision oncology.
marathonofhopecancercentres.…
Laura Dawson retweeted
Article in the World Journal for Pediatric & Congenital Heart Surgery pays merited tribute to Dr. William (Bill) Williams, @UofTSurgery Prof. Emeritus & founding member of the Center for Research & Quality of the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society (CHSS).
🔗journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.…
Laura Dawson retweeted
It is with heavy hearts that we share that Dr. Rachna Shroff has passed away. A longtime partner of CCF, she has made tangible differences for patients and their families throughout her career. From being a valued member of our Science and Medical Advisory Board to helping build one of the nation's largest clinical and research programs in biliary tract cancer as a faculty member at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and as an empathetic and expert clinician, she made a difference in every facet.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, she brought fun everywhere she went. Whether she was quoting Beyoncé in a talk about clinical trials or getting us to throw our hands during her amazing Bollywood lesson, Rachna made us live in the moment and laugh, even in the hardest of times. Our hearts are with her family and friends in the days ahead and beyond.
Laura Dawson retweeted
A light in our HPB oncology community is gone, much too soon
She changed what is possible for patients with cholangiocarcinoma and even saw through a Young Investigator Award in Biliary Cancers
Thinking of her family and all who loved her. RIP 🖤💐
medicine.arizona.edu/news/20…
Laura Dawson retweeted
🎉🎊🙌🍾Huge congrats to @DrAlexLouie for being awarded #ASTRO26 @ASTRO_org fellows!
@UofTDRO @ldawsonmd
Laura Dawson retweeted
👏👏👏The ONE AND ONLY @MeredithGiulia1 of @RadMedPM @UofTDRO @PMResearch_UHN @pmcancercentre @thePMCF @uhnfoundation @UHN_Research - @ASTRO_org mentorship award‼️
#ASTRO26 @ldawsonmd @DKirschMDPhD
Laura Dawson retweeted
🚨Please accrue to @NRGonc GI012 HELIO-RT, allowing photons, protons, and even adaptive RT, led by @jen_wo_xrt of @MGBResearchNews as we cement and expand the role of SBRT for our HCC patients 💪🏼
Laura Dawson retweeted
Replying to @NehaVapiwala
@NehaVapiwala speaking now in her #ASTRO26 Presidential address, giving us all an immediate call to action to get out of the basement and better communicate the strengths of our field 💪🏼 @ASTRO_org
Laura Dawson retweeted
Privileged & honored to receive the @caro_acro_ca Gold Medal and delivered the Gordon Richards Lecture 2026 - a huge thanks to all my amazing mentors collaborators enabling my personal Interdisciplinary Journey - From Symptom Control to Radiotheranostics
Laura Dawson retweeted
Humbled and grateful for this significant recognition that merely attest to the support, guidance and brilliance of colleagues, mentors, grad students and postdocs. Thank you!
Congratulations @ldawsonmd and @jseuntje for this amazing and well-deserved honour for your extraordinary contributions to our field. Proud to work with you each day @UHN @pmcancercentre @UofTDRO @RadMedPM
Laura Dawson retweeted
🎉A huge congrats to Drs. Laura Dawson and Jan Seuntjens on being elected 2026 Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC)! Such a wonderful and well-deserved recognition of their outstanding contributions to research and the field of radiation oncology. uoft.me/utdro-LD-JS-FRSC2026
Prof Corinne Faivre-Finn (Manchester, UK) explains how advanced techniques like #IMRT & #VMAT enable safe outpatient #lungcancer care—sparing organs, reducing side effects & boosting survival.
🎬 Watch the video: 👇
#WRAD2026 #Radiotherapy #WorldRadiotherapyAwarenessDay #radonc
Laura Dawson retweeted
Congrats @docamitgs !!! So well deserved. Well done @ILCAnews
Laura Dawson retweeted
1/6 Published today in @HEP_Journal @docamitgs
ovid.com/10.1097/HEP.0000000…
➡️BEACON-HCC, a new treatment allocation system for #HCC, developed by @HCCLIVEConf consortium
AASLD Statement: aasld.org/hepatology-publish…













































