Dr. Kennedy on Importance of SIRFLOX Study in Liver-Metastatic CRC

Andrew Kennedy, MD, physician-in-chief and radiation oncologist at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the importance of the SIRFLOX trial, which explored the efficacy of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) with SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres as treatment for patients with liver-metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) versus standard frontline chemotherapy.

The use of radioembolization in CRC, especially with Y-90, is showing good level 1 data in both the first-line and third-line settings, Kennedy explains. The goal of this treatment method is to protect the normal liver while radiating tumors that may not be responding to chemotherapy. Additionally, it can treat multiple tumors in the liver at once and can also be administered in patients with lower performance scores.

The SIRFLOX study was the first trial to demonstrate that moderate chemotherapy with Y-90 simultaneously was safe and efficacious in the first-line setting. However, the primary endpoint, which was progression-free survival, was not met, he adds. This is likely because the trial included patients with disease outside of the liver.

Results did show that disease were well controlled with statistically higher control rates than those on the chemotherapy-alone arm.