Quality of life of inoperable non-small cell lung carcinoma

Eighty one patients with inoperable non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) were entered in a randomized phase II trial comparing split-dose irradiation alone to combined treatment radiotherapy and polychemotherapy (C.A.P. + V.D.S.). The quality of life and the survival of the patients were studied. The authors have defined three classes of quality of life responses based on the time elapsed before the performance status index drops. A higher quality of life failure rate was observed in the combined treatment group (p non-significant) but the time elapsed before the Karnofsky index drops is longer in the combined treatment group for the quality of life 'no change' subgroup (p = 0.15). Survival and quality adjusted survival are similar in both treatment groups. The same conclusion holds for retrospective stratified treatment groups. The authors conclude that as far as the quality of life is concerned, polychemotherapy combined with the particular split-dose irradiation schedule used is an effective treatment of inoperable NSCLC. (Auth.)