ABSTRACT
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States and the world (1), with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for nearly 80% of all cases. Of patients who present with stage I/II disease, 25% have tumors that could be completely resected surgically; some of these patients, however, cannot tolerate a surgical procedure because of medical comorbidities and require definitive radiotherapy. About 50% of patients with NSCLC present with locally advanced (stage III) disease and require multimodality treatment, including radiotherapy. Even with concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, however, the median survival time for such patients is low. For example, the survival duration for patients with locally advanced stage III disease who were enrolled in the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 94-10 trial was only 15-17 months, with 5-year survival rates of 13-16%; 43% of those patients developed regional failure, and 45% developed distant metastases (2). Patients with stage IV disease may need palliative radiotherapy.
