[Therapeutic strategies in superior sulcus tumors: a model for combined modality therapy in non-small cell lung cancer].
Superior sulcus tumors have been individualized among other non-small cell lung cancers because of their characteristic clinical presentation in connection with their local extension to the chest wall and the brachial plexus. For a long time considered as marginally resectable, superior sulcus tumors have been treated since the early 1960's, with a combined approach including preoperative radiotherapy and curative-intent surgery. Surgical resection includes both thoracic, cervical and neurosurgical approach, and aims at obtaining complete resection, which has been identified as a determining prognostic factor in most reported series. Two recent phase II trials showed the benefit, both regarding resectability and local control rates, and survival of combined therapeutic strategies including induction platinum-based chemoradiation, extensive surgical resection, and adjuvant chemotherapy. Adjuvant radiotherapy is not recommended at the time, but needs to be re-evaluated regarding its recent technical optimisation. Similarly to other locally advanced non-small cell lung cancers, exclusive chemoradiation is the standard treatment of unresectable superior sulcus tumors. In this way, radiotherapy has shown to offer a prolonged analgesia in more than 75% of cases, and is associated with concurrent or sequential chemotherapy, with comparable results to those observed in stage III lung cancer. These developments make superior sulcus tumors a therapeutic model for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer, whereby the benefit of combined multimodal strategies including induction chemoradiation and surgical resection are currently evaluated in phase III trials.
Girard
N
N
Département de radiothérapie-oncologie, centre hospitalier Lyon-Sud, 165, hospices civils de Lyon, 165, chemin du Grand-Revoyet, 69495 Pierre-Bénite cedex, Lyon, France.
Mornex
F
F
D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000628:therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011379:Prognosis; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D015996:Survival Rate