title: Delineation of clinical target volume for postoperative radiotherapy in stage IIIA-pN2 non-small-cell lung cancer.
abstract: With the high locoregional relapse rate and the improvement of radiation technology, postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) has been widely used in the treatment of completely resected stage IIIA-pN2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there is still no definitive consensus on clinical target volume for the pN2 subgroup. This review will discuss how to delineate the clinical target volume (CTV) for pN2 subgroups of IIIA-N2 NSCLC based on the published literature and to investigate the optimal PORT CTV in this cohort of patients. Besides overall survival (OS), locoregional recurrence (LR), and radiotherapy-related toxicity of this subset of the population in the modern PORT era, selection of proper patients will also be considered in this review. In summary, it is appropriate to include involved lymph node stations and uninvolved stations at high risk in PORT CTV for patients with pN2 disease when PORT is administered. PORT can reduce LR and has the potential to improve OS. In the current era of modern radiation technology, PORT can be administered safely with well-tolerated toxicity. Clinicopathological characteristics may be helpful in selecting proper candidates for PORT.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Jinan-Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuquan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xindong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: non-small-cell lung carcinoma; postoperative radiotherapy; stage IIIA; target volume