POSTOPERATIVE RADIATION-THERAPY IN NONSMALL CELL LUNG-CANCER

One hundred seventy-three patients with the diagnosis of non-small cel l lung cancer (NSCLC) were treated with surgery and postoperative radi ation therapy (RT) at the Radiation Oncology Center, Washington Univer sity, St. Louis. All patients had been retrospectively reviewed and re staged according to the new American Joint Committee (AJC) staging cla ssification. Seventeen patients were stage I, 69 were stage II, 74 wer e stage IIIA, and 2 patients were stage IIIB. In 11 patients, accurate staging could not be determined. Indications for postoperative RT wer e positive surgical margins (32 patients), metastatic hilar nodes (78 patients), and metastatic mediastinal nodes (62 patients). Locoregiona l control for stages I, II, and IIIA was 85, 75, and 85%, respectively . Five-year actuarial survival was 35% for stage I and 20% for stages II and IIIA. Patients with No disease (positive margins) had 5-year su rvival of 25%, whereas patients with N-1 and N-2 disease had a 5-year survival of 20%.