Opinion
Video
Kate Gessner, MD, on systemic agents vs MDT after kidney cancer progression
Author(s):
“In the setting of widespread metastatic progression or failure, we typically prefer more systemic therapy with metastasis-directed therapy for symptomatic sites,” says Kate H. Gessner, MD, PhD.
In this video, Kate H. Gessner, MD, PhD, discusses when to switch to a different systemic agent vs metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) following failure of immunotherapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Gessner took part in the discussion, “Case-Based Session: Failure of Immunotherapy in Renal Cell Cancer—What’s Next?” at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary (ASCO GU) Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California.
Gessner is an associate professor of urology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.
Video Transcript:
When we're deciding whether to switch to different systemic agents or to consider metastasis-directed therapy, we're really taking the whole clinical picture into account. Dr. Maria Bourlon today will talk about oligoprogression vs widespread metastatic progression. In the setting of oligoprogression, you can consider more of a metastasis-directed therapy, such as in the form of radiation therapy, which Dr. Raquibul Hannan and Dr. Leslie Ballas will talk about today. In that setting, in oligoprogression, radiation therapy to metastatic sites can extend progression-free survival. However, in the setting of widespread metastatic progression or failure, then we typically prefer more systemic therapy with metastasis-directed therapy for symptomatic sites.
This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.
