Integration of radiotherapy in the management of locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Abstract

Locally advanced (LA) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the major target group for clinical investigation in thoracic oncology because of the number of patients falling into this category and a possibility of "cure" in such a huge population. The latter issue has been debated over decades, due to somewhat different interpretations of the "cure", when one considers the poor survival figures obtained with the available treatment modalities. With standard-fraction radiation therapy (RT) alone, these figures have been disappointingly low, with a 5-year survival rate of 5% and a median survival time of 8-10 months [1-3]. Therefore, non-believers were frequently asking the question: to treat or not? But nowadays this question, and even its softer variant, "should we treat immediately or not?", especially with regard to asymptomatic patients, seems to be irrelevant because all treatment modalities are becoming ever more efficient, and in the year 2006, "cure-has become imperative.