title: Radical radiotherapy of inoperable non-small cell lung cancer. Irradiation techniques and tumor characteristics in relation to local control and survival.
abstract: The relation between tumor characteristics, irradiation technique, local tumor control and survival was retrospectively studied in 323 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who started radical radiotherapy in 1974-1981. At that time three non-randomized different fractionation schedules were used: 16 x 3.25 Gy, total dose 52 Gy, 3 fractions/week (schedule 1), 11 x 4 Gy, total dose 44 Gy, 2 fractions/week (schedule 2) and 25 x 2 Gy, total dose 50 Gy, 5 fractions/week (schedule 3). The highest survival rates were observed in the patient group treated according to schedule 2. The 2-year survival rate was 30% compared with 18% and 6% in the patients treated according to schedule 1 and 3 respectively. However, this can at least partly be explained by patient selection. A correlation between size of the tumor, target volume and survival was observed: the larger the tumor, the poorer the survival. Pleural effusion showed to be an unfavorable prognostic factor. The prognosis of inoperable lung cancer on the whole remained poor: the 1-year survival rate was 43% and 2-year survival rate 16%. Only 3% of the patients lived at least five years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Tampere University Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wigren
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kellokumpu-Lehtinen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ojala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D015996:Survival Rate