207_Combined course Presentations

The Oligometastatic State

In a 1995 JCO Editorial, clinical evidence led Hellmann and Weichselbaum to coin the term “oligometastases”

It was a proposal for a new clinical concept :

 Intermediate biologic state of restricted metastatic capacity between truly locoregionally-confined and widely –metastatic cancer

 Limited number and organ sites of metastases

 Transitional state to dissemination (not yet achieved a widespread dissemination)

Oligometastatic state (by “arbitrary definition”): limited number of metastases ( usually ≤ 5 ), all amenable to radical local therapies

Weichselbaum & Hellmann. J Clin Oncol 1995;13 Weichselbaum & Hellmann. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2011;8