Can combined chemo-radiation be started after induction chemotherapy in the curative treatment of stage III non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC)? A multicenter, phase II study 5-year update.

e17507 Background: The standard treatment for inoperable stage 3 NSCLC is concurrent chemo-radiation (CRT). In busy centers such as ours, radiation treatment often cannot be started soon. To prevent treatment delays, we performed a phase II study using induction chemotherapy followed by CRT instead of the standard CRT on day one. We report the long-term outcomes with this regimen. Methods: Forty-one stage 3 NSCLC patients (pts), with performance status < 1, were treated between January/2003 and November/2004: 27 males, 14 females, median age 60 (37-70), stage 3A (22 pts) or 3B (19 pts). The induction chemotherapy consisted of two cycles of carboplatin AUC=5 iv on day 1 and gemcitabine 1000mg/m2 iv on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks x2, followed on day 50 by CRT, 60Gy/30 over 6 weeks, concomitantly with paclitaxel 50mg/m2 iv and gemcitabine 100mg/m2 iv on days 1 and 8 every three weeks x 2 cycles. Results: After induction chemotherapy, the partial response was 73.1%, stable disease was 24.4% and one patient pro...