Individualised isotoxic accelerated radiotherapy and chemotherapy are associated with improved long-term survival of patients with stage III NSCLC: a prospective population-based study.

BACKGROUND

Individualised, isotoxic, accelerated radiotherapy (INDAR) allows the delivery of high biological radiation doses, but the long-term survival associated with this approach is unknown.

METHODS

Patients with stage III NSCLC in the Netherlands Cancer Registry/Limburg from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2008 were included.

RESULTS

Patients (1002) with stage III NSCLC were diagnosed, of which 938 had T4 and/or N2-N3 disease. Patients treated with curative intent were staged with FDG-PET scans and a contrast-enhanced CT or an MRI of the brain. There were no shifts over time in the patient or tumour characteristics at diagnosis. The number of stage III NSCLC patients remained stable over time, but the proportion treated with palliative intent decreased from 47% in 2002 to 37% in 2008, and the percentage treated with chemo-radiation (RT) increased from 24.6% in 2002 to 47.8% in 2008 (p<0.001). The proportion of surgical patients remained below 5%. Sequential chemotherapy and conventional RT resulted in a median and a 5-year survival of 17.5 months and 8.4%, respectively, whereas with sequential chemotherapy and INDAR this was 23.6 months and 31%, respectively (p<0.001). Concurrent chemotherapy and INDAR was associated with a median and 2-year survival that was not reached and 66.7%, respectively (p=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of patients treated with a curative intention with chemo-RT has increased markedly over time of observation. INDAR is associated with longer survival when compared to standard dose RT alone given with or without chemotherapy.