Outcome of Patients Treated with Definitive versus Palliative Radiation Therapy for Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer after Poor Radiographic Response to Induction Chemotherapy

Materials/Methods: From January 1990 to December 2003, ninety-eight patients with clinical stage IIIA and IIIB NSCLC were treated with either definitive (n 64) or palliative RT (n 34) after displaying a poor radiographic response to induction chemotherapy, defined as either having no response (NR) or progressive disease (PD) at the primary site as determined by serial computed tomography (CT). All patients were treated initially using combination chemotherapy with 96% receiving a platinum-based regimen. The median number of cycles administered was 4 (range, 2–12). Median RT dose in the patients treated with definitive and palliative intent was 6000 cGy and 3000 cGy, respectively. CT-based RT planning was performed in 58% of the patients treated with definitive intent compared to 3% of those treated with palliative RT. Median Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) in the definitive and palliative RT groups was 80 and 70, respectively.