Dr. Krajewski on Responses With PD-1 Agents in RCC

Katherine Krajewski, MD, associate director, physician, Cancer Imaging Program Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, assistant professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, discusses the range of responses seen in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received treatment with a PD-1 agent.

Patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrate a variety of responses via imaging, including early and complete responses, as well as unconventional imaging changes, Krajewski explains. These unconventional changes include increase in tumor burden preceding decrease and response in existing lesions, but development of new lesions. These are not as well captured through the use of RECIST criteria, she adds.

However, immune-related response criteria include additional features, such as confirmatory short-interval follow-up scans and incorporation of new lesions into the total tumor burden.