ABSTRACT
An estimated 157,000 patients died of lung cancer in the United States in the year 2000 [lJ. Although surgical resection offers the best chance for a cure in this disease, its use is limited to the less than 20% of patients who present with early-stage, localized lung cancer. The vast majority of the patients present with locally advanced disease (with/without distant metastases), and failure to obtain local control continues to be a major issue. Several Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) studies that utilized external beam radiation therapy have reported local failure rates of 31-51% [2], and the Veterans Administration Lung Group reported that residual intrathoracic tumors were responsible for death in 75% of patients with squamous
cell carcinoma and 50% of patients with adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma [3].
