title: Preoperative radiation therapy in regionally localized stage III non-small cell lung carcinoma: long-term results and patterns of failure.
abstract: Seventy-four patients from January 1975 through December 1982, with clinical Stage III Mo non-small cell carcinoma of the lung were treated at our Medical Center with a course of pre-operative radiation therapy to be followed by surgical resection. Radiation therapy consisted of delivering a total dose of 40 Gy with 200 cGy per fraction over a period of 4 weeks to the primary tumor in the lung and the regional lymph nodal areas. Surgical resection was attempted 4 weeks later. Fifty-eight percent of the patients had squamous cell carcinoma whereas the remaining had other histologies like adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma, or a combination thereof. All the patients except two were followed up to a minimum of 5 years or until death. Sixty-four patients (82%) had T3 tumors whereas mediastinal nodal involvement was found in 41 patients (55%). Fifteen patients (20%) did not have the operation because of tumor progression, patient's refusal or death. All but two surgically treated patients had tumor resection. Of these 19% had histologically negative specimens, 9 patients (16%) had microscopic disease only, and 37 patients had gross residual disease at the time of surgery. The actuarial 5-year survival and recurrence-free survival rates for the entire group were 20% and 24%, respectively. Patients with a pathologic response had an actuarial recurrence-free survival rate of 53% at 5 years whereas only 17% of those with gross residual disease at surgery had remained recurrence-free at 5 years. One-half of the patients with clinically uninvolved nodes were living recurrence-free at 5 years whereas only 20% of the patients with N2 disease did so. The patterns of failure according to the histology and stage of the disease will be presented.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Therapeutic Radiology, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Jensik
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Kittle
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Bonomi
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Hendrickson
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care; D015996:Survival Rate