Radiotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Radiotherapy, including details on cancer treatment, side effects.

Improved local control with higher doses of radiation in large-volume stage III non-small-cell lung cancer.

Rengan R, Rosenzweig KE, Venkatraman E, Koutcher LA, Fox JL, Nayak R, Amols H, Yorke E, Jackson A, Ling CC, Leibel SA

Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021, USA.

PURPOSE: It has been suggested that larger tumor volume is associated with poor survival in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated whether high-dose radiation improved local control in patients with large-volume Stage III NSCLC. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Seventy-two patients with Stage III NSCLC and gross tumor volumes (GTV) of greater than 100 cc were treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT). Patients were divided into two groups: those treated to less than 64 Gy (37 patients) and those treated to 64 Gy or higher (35 patients). RESULTS: The 1-year and 2-year local failure rates were 27% and 47%, respectively, for Stage III patients treated to 64 Gy or higher, and 61% and 76%, respectively, for those treated to less than 64 Gy (p = 0.024). The median survival time for patients treated to 64 Gy or higher was 20 months vs. 15 months for those treated to less than 64 Gy (p = 0.068). Multivariate analysis revealed that dose and GTV are predictors of local failure-free survival. A 10 Gy increase in dose resulted in a 36.4% decreased risk of local failure. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that administration of higher doses using 3D-CRT improves local control in Stage III NSCLC patients with large GTVs.

Published 6 October 2004 in Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 60(3): 741-7.
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