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A UK clinical trial found that lung cancer patients who received radiotherapy on top of standard chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy went 56% longer without their disease progressing. The SARON trial, presented at ESMO 2026, focused on patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Importantly, the added treatment didn't compromise patients' quality of life.
A landmark UK clinical trial has found that adding local consolidation radiotherapy to standard systemic treatment significantly improves outcomes for patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) — a form of the disease that has spread to a limited number of secondary sites. Results from the SARON trial, presented at the 2026 ESMO Congress, showed that patients who received radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy went an average of 13.9 months without disease progression, compared to just 8.9 months for those on standard treatment alone.
The Phase II randomized controlled trial enrolled 140 patients across 19 UK centers. Half received standard systemic therapy, while the other half also received high-dose radiotherapy — including stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SBRT) — to all known disease sites. The added treatment was well tolerated with no meaningful drop in quality of life.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: These findings provide the first robust randomized evidence supporting the addition of radiotherapy to systemic therapy for oligometastatic NSCLC, potentially reshaping treatment guidelines and offering patients a meaningful, tolerable improvement in disease control.
