title: Three-times daily radiotherapy after chemotherapy in stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Single-institution prospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A prospective study for stage IIIA-B nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with three-times daily (3td) radiotherapy (RT), after induction chemotherapy (iCT), with or without surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Induction cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy was delivered. Surgery and postoperative (post-op) radiotherapy were planned for responsive stage IIIA patients; definitive irradiation was performed in unresectable IIIA and IIIB patients. Doses of 54.4 and 64.6 Gy were delivered for the post-op and definitive treatments, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 52 patients (pts), 37 received 3tdRT as definitive (18 pts) or post-op treatment (19 pts). Overall, the failures were similar between post-op and definitive 3tdRT (78.9% vs. 77.8%). In the post-op treatment, metastases and local failures were 52.6% and 10.5%, respectively and in the definitive radiotherapy, the incidence was similar (local 33.3% vs. systemic 44.4%). The five-year overall survival (OS) was 25% for the post-op and 21% for the definitive patients (p = 0.87).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Three-times daily postoperative radiotherapy did not improve the outcome in NSCLC, but for unresectable patients, this approach may have a role in selected cases.
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiotherapy, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. gianpiero.catalano@ieo.it
authors.forename: Gianpiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Pas
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spaggiari
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gandini
authors.forename: Barbara Alicja
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Jereczek-Fossa
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Braud
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leo
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orecchia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate