Late-course three dimensional conformal radiotherapy combined with concurrent chemotherapy for Stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect and tolerance of late-course three dimensional conformal radiotherapy(LC3DCRT) combined with concurrent chemotherapy for stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods From May 2000 to May 2003,48 such patients were entered into this study.The patient's characteristics were 38 male and 10 female,with median age of 62 years(range 40 to 74);Karnovsky performance score ≥70;stage ⅢA 16 and ⅢB 32,squamous cell carcinoma 38 and adenocarcinoma 10.The treatment regimen consisted of conventional radiotherapy first(40Gy/20f/4W),followed by 3DCRT(24-30Gy/4-5f/2W) combined with concurrent chemotherapy.Conventional irradiation field encompassed the primary lesion,ipsilateral hilum and mediastinal lymph drainage region.LC3DCRT focused on the primary lesion only,with the 80%-90% isodose curve covering the planning target volume(PTV) and the target dose was prescribed to PTV.Supraclavicular metastatic lymph node was treated by mixed 6MV X-ray and electron beam to a total dose of 65-70Gy.Chemotherapy treatment regimen consisted of isophosfomide(25mg/m~2,d1、8,iv) and cisplatin(30mg/d,d1-3,iv) in the 1st and 5th week.Results Before the end of the second month after treatment,the complete response(CR)and partial response(PR) rate was 16.7% and 75.0%,respectively,with a CR+PR rate of 91.7%.The 1-,2-and 3-year local control and overall survival rates as monitored by the Kaplan-Meier method was 87.5%,50.0%,35.7% and 87.5%,46.7%,28.6%,respectively.All patients completed the planned treatment without interruption.Hematological toxicity and radiation-induced pneumonitis as shown by the WHO staging system were the most common acute toxicities but they were tolerable,with 8.3% of grade 3 leukopenia and 4.2% of grade 3 radiation-induced pneumonitis.The severity of the other acute toxicities such as nausea,fever,hemoglobin decrease,and radiation-induced esophagitis were mainly grade 1 or grade 2.Conclusions Late course three dimensional radiotherapy combined with concurrent chemotherapy shows a promising results with tolerable acute toxicities.Long-term survival and late toxicities need further observation.