Preliminary results of radiotherapy with or without weekly paclitaxel in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

摘要

PURPOSE. In this study our objective was to evaluate the therapeutic significance of concurrent paclitaxel and radiotherapy compared with radiotherapy alone. PATIENTS AND METHODS. Patients with stage III A/B NSCLC were randomly assigned to receive either radiotherapy alone (group 2) or concurrent weekly paclitaxel with radiotherapy (group 1) in GMMA. Radiotherapy was given as a split-course schedule with the total dose of 56 Gy. Paclitaxel, 60 mg/m(2), was administered only to group 1 on the first day of each radiotherapy week. To assess differences between values, P values were calculated with the chi(2) test. A Mann Whitney U-test was used to assess significant differences between the two values. Actuarial survival curves were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS. There were 25 patients who underwent chemoradiotherapy and 26 who underwent radiotherapy only. Median follow-up was 14 months. The overall response rate was 92% and 70% for groups 1 and 2, respectively ( P= 0.003). Median survivalwas 15.2 months for group 1, and 12.0 months for group 2 ( P= 0.027). CONCLUSION. Based on this response and the toxicity profile, outpatient split-course radiotherapy and weekly paclitaxel seems to be feasible and safe.