# Oligometastatic disease

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/oligometastatic/  
OnCo record `oligometastatic` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Cancer that has spread to only a few places, which may still be curable by treating each spot.

## Summary

Oligometastatic disease is cancer that has spread to only a few sites, usually no more than three to five metastases, and may still be curable if each spot is treated. The SABR-COMET trial supported metastasis-directed SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy), and the ESTRO/EORTC classification distinguishes synchronous, oligorecurrent and oligoprogressive disease, the last covered by the related term Oligoprogression. PSMA PET has expanded detection of this state in Prostate cancer, and the term is also referenced by the Renal cell carcinoma entry and the bottleneck on metastasis biology. Ideas building on it include PSMA-PET-guided metastasis-directed therapy as a curative strategy and a test to tell true oligometastatic disease from hidden widespread spread.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-04

## Sources

- NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms: oligometastasis: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/oligometastasis
- Lievens et al., Defining oligometastatic disease from a radiation oncology perspective: an ESTRO-ASTRO consensus (Radiotherapy and Oncology 2020): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2020.04.003

## Connected records

- technologies: [PSMA PET](https://onco.cc/technologies/psma-pet/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/)
- key papers: [Defining oligometastatic disease from a radiation oncology perspective: An ESTRO-ASTRO consensus document](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-lievens-radiother-oncol/), [The evolutionary history of lethal metastatic prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-gundem-evolutionary-history-lethal-metastatic-prostate-nature-2015/)
- cancers: [Biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate-bcr/), [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Lung cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-cancer/), [Metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread)](https://onco.cc/cancers/metastatic-cancer/), [Metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate-mhspc/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic-acinar-cell-carcinoma/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/), [Renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/rcc/), [Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas](https://onco.cc/cancers/solid-pseudopapillary-neoplasm/)
- terms: [Consolidation therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/consolidation-therapy/), [Curative intent vs palliative intent](https://onco.cc/terms/curative-intent/), [Hallmark: activating invasion and metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/activating-invasion-metastasis/), [Metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/metastasis/), [Oligoprogression](https://onco.cc/terms/oligoprogression/), [Progressive disease and radiographic progression](https://onco.cc/terms/progressive-disease/), [Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT / SABR)](https://onco.cc/terms/sbrt-term/), [Systemic versus local therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/systemic-vs-local-therapy/), [TNM 9: what changed in lung cancer staging](https://onco.cc/terms/tnm-9-lung-cancer/)
- ideas: [A neutral platform trial for radiotherapy plus immunotherapy combinations](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-fund-rt-io-platform/), [A regulatory endpoint for drugs that block spread, not tumours](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-antimetastatic-endpoint/), [A ring-fenced metastasis programme with metastasis-specific endpoints](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-fund-metastasis-moonshot/), [A test to tell true oligometastatic disease from hidden widespread spread](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-oligometastatic-signature/), [Biopsy the one lesion that is growing while the others shrink](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio1-outlier-lesion-biopsy/), [Build laboratory models of the organs cancer spreads to](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio1-metastatic-niche-models/), [PSMA-PET-guided metastasis-directed therapy as a curative strategy in oligorecurrent prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-psma-pet-guided-mdt/), [Reprogramme the liver's own immune cells to refuse metastases](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-liver-niche-kupffer-reprogramming/), [When the blood test is positive, hunt for the lesion with sensitive imaging](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-localise-the-mrd/)
- trials: [CAIRO5](https://onco.cc/trials/cairo5/), [CLOCC](https://onco.cc/trials/clocc/), [EORTC 40983](https://onco.cc/trials/eortc-40983/), [New EPOC](https://onco.cc/trials/new-epoc/), [ORIOLE](https://onco.cc/trials/oriole/), [STOMP](https://onco.cc/trials/stomp-oligorecurrence/)
- people: [David A. Palma](https://onco.cc/people/david-palma/)
- bottlenecks: [Metastasis is understood least and studied last](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-metastasis-biology/)
- pathways: [Organ tropism: seed and soil](https://onco.cc/pathways/organ-tropism-seed-soil/), [The metastatic cascade](https://onco.cc/pathways/metastatic-cascade/)
- institutions: [Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern](https://onco.cc/institutions/utsw-simmons/), [IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/humanitas/), [Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/sunnybrook-odette/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/oligometastatic.json