A number of recent studies have advanced knowledge about the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. Converging evidence suggests that novel aspects of treatment such as radiation therapy boosts, chemoradiation vs. chemotherapy, preoperative chemoradiation therapy, novel targeted therapy combinations, novel biomarkers of response, and estimating and modeling toxicity of treatments are critical drivers of clinical practice. This session will highlight recent developments in these key areas, educating the audience about the clinical ramifications of these developments and thereby improve the quality of care by practicing physicians.

This session highlights recent studies exploring the value of preoperative chemoradiation therapy in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer patients, the role of a radiation boost in rectal cancer, the role of chemoradiation therapy in gastric cancers treated preoperatively or postoperatively, the toxicities arising from esophageal cancer radiotherapy and hepatobiliary proton radiotherapy, the value of monitoring circulating tumor DNA in pancreatic cancer patients, and the possible additional benefit of adding a PARP inhibitor to radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer. Collectively, this session identifies gaps in knowledge in key clinical practice arenas in gastrointestinal cancer radiation therapy, provides attendees with a nuanced understanding of the range of management options available in these circumstance, advances novel paradigms in the management of GI cancers commonly treated with radiation therapy and provides attendees with the opportunity to determine if these paradigms might affect their day-to-day practice.