Radiotherapy for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

In patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer and who have no evidence of distant metastases, radiotherapy is recommended to loco-regional disease because it may be associated with a survival advantage compared with placebo.

It has been known for many years that ionizing radiation is capable of killing lung cancer cells and reducing tumour size. Radiotherapy usually become an option for non-small cell lung cancer treatment when patient incapable of undergoing surgery due to their own health condition, or in patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer and who have no evidence of distant metastases, radiotherapy is recommended to loco-regional disease because it may be associated with a survival advantage compared with placebo.


When using radiotherapy for treating patients who are not eligible for surgery, doctor often combined together with chemotherapy to increase the cure rate result, and it is usually used in treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. There is also radiotherapy that works using a high intensity is called radical radiotherapy. CHART (Continuous Radiation Hyper-fractionated Accelerated Radiotherapy) is a new radiotherapy technique that has fixed from the previous this lung cancer treatment management; it is works by using a high dose of radiotherapy in a short time period.

The studies that designed to examine the value of radiotherapy in the management of patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer. These studies has objective to determine whether the loco-regional cytotoxic effects of radiotherapy translate into a survival advantage compared with placebo or a policy of observation.

In a study that involving 800 lung cancer patients, revealed a small but statistically significant advantage for patients with pathologically proven lung cancer confined to the chest that were randomized to radiotherapy compared with placebo. This study held by VALCSG (the Veterans Administration Lung Cancer Study Group).

Source:

• Wolf J, Patno ME, Roswit B, D’Esopo N. Controlled Study of Survival of Patients With Clinically Inoperable Lung Cancer Treated With Radiation Therapy. Am J Med 1966; 40(3): 360–7.
• Durrant KR, Berry RJ, Ellis F, Ridehalgh FR, Black JM, Hamilton WS. Comparison of Treatment Policies in Inoperable Bronchial Carcinoma. Lancet 1971; 1(7702): 715–9.
• Gregor A, Macbeth FR, Paul J, Cram L, Hansen HH. Radical Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy in Localized Inoperable Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: a Randomized Trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 1993; 85(12): 997–9.

Main article - Radiotherapy