Pilot study of multiple-fraction daily radiotherapy alternating with chemotherapy in patients with stage IV non-oat cell lung cancer
From March 1982, 31 patients with stage IV non-oat cell lung cancer have been treated. Radiotherapy was given as three 2.00-Gy fractions on Days 1 and 2, 8 and 9, 22 and 23, and 29 and 30, for a total dose of 48 Gy over a 30-32-day treatment period. A three-drug combination of cyclophosphamide (400 mg/m2), doxorubicin (17 mg/m2), and methotrexate (15 mg/m2) was given on Days 3 and 24 and repeated thereafter every 21 days. Three of 31 evaluable patients (10%) achieved objective complete response and 18 of 31 (58%) achieved partial response (ie, regression of 50%-90%), while no change or disease progression was observed in ten of 31 (32%). The overall response rate in our study was 68%, which is a response much higher than other results in extensive disease. However, controlled trials will be necessary to definitively establish the superiority of this regimen to conventional trials. There was a significant shift of performance status towards higher values after treatment: 12 of the 27 patients classified in the 70-80 Karnofsky category before treatment moved to the higher category, 13 remained in the same status, and only two shifted to the worst category, indicating that the treatment had been effective in giving patients a better quality of life during their survival. The median survival was 35 weeks for the entire group of patients and 44 and 15 weeks for the responders and nonresponders, respectively. One of the primary findings of this pilot study was the ability to give one course of 12 Gy of radiation as multiple fractions per day during each of the first 2 weeks of treatment alternated with one course of chemotherapy, with most patients having very mild or no side effects.
- Research Organization:
- Istituto Medico e di Ricerca Scientifica, Rome, Italy
- OSTI ID:
- 5614587
- Journal Information:
- Cancer Treat. Rep.; (United States), Vol. 69:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
LUNGS
NEOPLASMS
CHEMOTHERAPY
RADIOTHERAPY
PATIENTS
RADIATION DOSES
AMIDES
DOXORUBICIN
METHOTREXATE
PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
SURVIVAL TIME
ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS
ANTIBIOTICS
ANTIMETABOLITES
ANTINEOPLASTIC DRUGS
BODY
DISEASES
DOSES
DRUGS
MEDICINE
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
RADIOLOGY
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
THERAPY
550604* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Therapy- (1980-)
550600 - Medicine