Society of Interventional Oncology Announces First Site Approved for Enrollment in TRIBUTE Trial

A Multi-Center Observational Trial of Symptomatic, High-Risk Bone Metastases Treated with Percutaneous Ablation and Palliative Radiation Therapy

WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / August 18, 2025 / The Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO) proudly announces that the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA, has been the first site approved and activated for enrollment in the society's second clinical trial, TRIBUTE: A Multi-Center Observational Trial of Symptomatic, High-Risk Bone Metastases Treated with Percutaneous Ablation and Palliative Radiation Therapy. The Washington University School of Medicine site study physicians are Jack Jennings, MD, PhD, FSIR, and Clifford Robinson, MD.

Drs. Jennings and Robinson are two of four physicians leading the TRIBUTE Trial, including Sean Tutton, MD, FSIR, FCIRSE, and James Urbanic, MD, from the University of California, San Diego. "We are excited and pleased to share that Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, is our first site activated and is ready for patient enrollment in the TRIBUTE Trial," said Jennings. "We look forward to announcing other sites in the U.S. as they are approved for enrollment."

The TRIBUTE study is collectively supported by the study's Exclusive Pioneer Trial Partner, Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company, the study's Catalyst Trial Partner, Stryker, Inc., and the study's Advocate Trial Partner, Boston Scientific Corporation.

This is the first prospective, multi-center study to evaluate real-world outcomes (e.g., pain, patient reported outcomes, skeletal related events, healthcare utilization, etc.) in adult patients treated with both percutaneous ablation and palliative radiation therapy (RT) for symptomatic, high-risk metastatic bone lesions. The study was collaboratively designed and developed with the partnership of radiation oncology, which SIO sees as a critical multidisciplinary partner to the success of the study. Upon completion, the study will enroll 120 subjects from across sites in the United States.

Percutaneous ablation and RT have different mechanisms of alleviating pain and causing tumor death that may work synergistically. Radiation therapy is a widely accepted treatment for painful bone metastases and provides palliation of pain for patients. Percutaneous ablation, a minimally invasive therapy for painful metastatic bone disease, can be performed with thermal modalities (e.g., radiofrequency, microwave, cryoablation) and requires minimal recovery.

About the Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO)

SIO serves as the only membership-based organization dedicated to the emerging field of interventional oncology (IO), working to establish, nurture, and support IO as the fourth pillar of cancer therapy alongside medical, surgical, and radiation oncology worldwide. IO therapies, such as embolization and tumor ablation, combine the expertise of oncology and radiology and use imaging technology to diagnose and treat localized cancers in ways that are precisely targeted and minimally or non-invasive. For more information, please visit www.sio-central.org.

SOURCE: Society of Interventional Oncology