A strategy to reduce acute toxicity from chemoradiation therapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer.

e17534 Background: The standard of care for limited stage SCLC as outlined in the Intergroup 0096 trial involves twice daily radiation therapy, delivered to two out of four fields at a time, which results in high rates of clinically significant acute toxicity. This study examines acute esophagitis and treatment breaks in patients treated with radiation therapy as outlined by Intergroup 0096 vs those treated with a slight modification to this technique. Methods: We identified SCLC patients who received 45 Gy in 1.5 Gy bid fractions from an institutional database. Associations were assessed via Chi-squared test. A break was defined as an interruption of 3+ days. Results: 74 SCLC patients were treated with 3D-conformal radiation therapy from 2004 to 2010. 16 patients did not satisfy criteria described in the Methods and were excluded. 28 patients were treated per Intergroup 0096 with AP/PA fields bid for 1 week followed by AP/PA treatment in the AM and 2 oblique fields in the PM for 2 weeks. 28 patients were...