Prognostic factors in irradiated patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

ABSTRACT

Over the last 20 years the prognostic factors in NSCLhave been studies predominantly in surgical series. Their importance in clinically staged patients submitted to radiation therapy (RT) alone have not been sufficiently substantiated. We analyzed clinicoanatomical factors in 43 prospectively studied patients with inoperable tumors treated with definitive irradiation (60 GY/6 weeks). The only significant factors were the chest ivasion and response to RT. The median survivals for patients with and without chest wall invasion were 5.5 and 11.0 months, respectively (p=0.04), with corresponding 1 and 2-years survival rates of 33 and 0 percent, and 54 and 16 percent, respectively. Measurable responses were partial in 24 (55.8 percent) and complete in 7 patients (16.3 percent). The median survivals for responders and nonresponders were 13.0 and 5.0 months, respectively, with 2-year survival of 21 percent and 0 percent, respectively (p=0.00001). The local control rate was 11.6 percent respectively. These data suggest that irradiation is not an useful treatment for patients with chest wall invasion, and that responders have longer survival.