Clinical observation of gemcitabine and concurrent three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 中国肺癌杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To evaluate the clinical effect of gemcitabine and concurrent three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From April 2002 to June 2003, 28 patients with inoperable stage III NSCLC were treated with gemcitabine and 3D-CRT simultaneously. Chemotherapy consisted of intravenously gemcitabine 350 mg/m 2 on days 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36. 3D-CRT was delivered up to a total dose of 60-64 Gy with a 2.0 Gy dose fraction per day, 5 days per week.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The overall response rates of primary tumor and mediastinum metastatic node were 89.3%(25/28) and 96.0%(24/25) respectively, and 94.7%(18/19) and 77.8%(7/9) for squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma respectively. The acute side effects of patients were mostly myelosuppression, nausea, vomiting, radiation-induced esophagitis and pneumonitis (RTOGI/II), however, all of them were cured.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Concurrent application of gemcitabine and 3D-CRT can improve the overall response rate for locally advanced NSCLC without aggravating the side effects.</p>