Dr Andreas Hallqvist speaks to ecancer about results from a randomised phase II trial evaluating the addition of durvalumab after stereotactic body radiotherapy in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer who are not candidates for surgery.

The study found that adding durvalumab significantly delayed tumour progression compared with radiotherapy alone, suggesting a potential benefit in disease control.

However, this improvement did not translate into clear differences in disease-free or overall survival.

Treatment was generally well tolerated, with mostly low-grade immune-related side effects.

Dr Hallqvist says that these findings highlight both the promise and the uncertainty of combining immunotherapy with radiotherapy in a frail patient population, and the need for further research to better define its clinical value.