ABSENCE OF THORACIC RADIATION MYELITIS AFTER HYPERFRACTIONATED RADIATION-THERAPY WITH AND WITHOUT CONCURRENT CHEMOTHERAPY FOR STAGE-III NONSMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER

Purpose: To investigate whether thoracic spinal cord dose of 50.4 Gy g iven via 1.2 Gy b.i.d. fractionation carries a risk of developing radi ation myelitis during studies using hyperfractionated radiation therap y (HFX RT) with and without concurrent chemotherapy (CHT). Methods and Materials: Of 300 patients with Stage III nonsmall-cell lung cancer ( NSCLC) who were treated on two consecutive Phase III studies, 158 pati ents received 50.4 Gy to a portion of their spinal cord and survived > 1 year after the beginning of the therapy, Results: None of these 158 patients developed thoracic radiation myelitis, Therefore, influence o f potentially contributing factors on the occurrence of radiation myel itis, such as interfraction interval, or those unproven yet, such as c ord length or administration of concurrent CHT, was not possible to in vestigate, Conclusion: Given the continuing interest in HFX RT and enc ouraging results obtained in studies in lung cancer, further investiga tion is needed to get more informations about risks of developing thor acic radiation myelitis with this cord dose. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.