Radiotherapy for stage III non-small cell lung cancer

A total of 82 unresectable or medically inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer patients were treated between 1991 and 2000 with radical radiotherapy combined with or without chemotherapy. In a retrospective analysis, the median survival period and 5-year over all survival rate (OS) was 11.5 months and 11.7%, respectively. Prolonged over all survival rate was associated with a small irradiation field (<120 cm2 vs. ≥120 cm2; p=0.017), total given dose (≥61 Gy vs. 60 Gy≥; p=0.0189), and platinum based chemotherapy combination (with vs. without; p=0.03) (author)