The role of chemotherapy given concurrently with thoracic three-dimensional radiotherapy for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not well defined. We performed this study to investigate overall survival and toxicity in patients with stage IV NSCLC treated with this modality.
Su et al BMC Cancer 2013, 13:474 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/13/474 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Overall survival and toxicities regarding thoracic three-dimensional radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer: results of a prospective single-center study Sheng-Fa Su†, Yin-Xiang Hu†, Wei-Wei Ouyang†, Bing Lu*, Zhu Ma, Qing-Song Li, Hui-Qin Li and Yi-Chao Geng Abstract Background: The role of chemotherapy given concurrently with thoracic three-dimensional radiotherapy for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not well defined We performed this study to investigate overall survival and toxicity in patients with stage IV NSCLC treated with this modality Methods: From 2003 to 2010, 201 patients were enrolled in this study All patients received chemotherapy with concurrent thoracic three-dimensional radiotherapy The study endpoints were the assessment of overall survival (OS) and acute toxicity Results: For all patients, the median survival time (MST) was 10.0 months, and the 1-, 2- and 3-year OS rates were 40.2%, 16.4%, and 9.6%, respectively The MST was 14.0 months for patients who received a total radiation dose ≥63 Gy to the primary tumor, whereas it was 8.0 months for patients who received a total dose