COMBINED-MODALITY TREATMENT USING BID RADIATION FOR LOCALLY ADVANCED NONSMALL CELL LUNG-CARCINOMA

Background. From February 1988 to August 1991, 82 patients were treate d on a Phase II trial of split-course multimodality treatment for loca lly advanced, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods. Treatment c onsisted of twice-daily radiation (150 cGy/fraction) delivered with co ncomitant infusional cisplatin, etoposide, and fluorouracil for 1 week every third week. Patients were classified before initial treatment a s either potentially resectable (eligible for surgery [ES]) or ineligi ble for surgery (IES). The ES group consisted of 38 Stage IIIA and 7 S tage IIIB patients. The IES group had 5 patients staged as IIIA and 32 staged as IIIB. Most patients were staged clinically. ES patients rec eived three cycles of treatment (39 Gy) before resection. IES patients received four cycles (60 Gy) delivered with curative intent. Results. Thirty-nine of 45 ES patients underwent resection. The pathologic res ponse rate was 27%. Three-year actuarial local control was 86% for 41 evaluable ES patients. Three-year actuarial survival for the whole ES group was 39%, with a median follow-up for living patients of 32 month s. The IES group faired less well, with an 18% 3-year actuarial surviv al. Treatment was well tolerated with a median weight loss of one-half pound, mild or moderate pneumonitis in 5%, mild esophagitis in 15%, a nd severe nausea and/or vomiting in 10% of patients. Treatment-related mortality was 5%. Conclusions. Patients treated with conventional rad iation alone for Stage III NSCLC are rarely cured. This well tolerated Phase II study demonstrated encouraging results for such patients. Bo th local control and survival appeared promising, especially in patien ts rendered resectable after combined-modality treatment.