Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2000 Apr
The impact of overall treatment time on outcomes in radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE
A retrospective study was carried out to evaluate the impact of overall treatment time (OTT) on the results of radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
From Jan. 1990 to Dec. 1996, 256 patients with stages I-IIIb NSCLC entered this analysis. All patients received definitive radiotherapy. Biologically effective dose (BED) was used to standardize the irradiation effects. The correlation between OTT and local progression-free survival was analyzed by linear-regression and Cox proportional hazard models. The prognostic variables for survival and distant metastasis were also briefly studied.
RESULTS
OTT had been shortened in 64 patients because of an accelerated hyperfractioned irradiation, while OTT was prolonged i n 114 patients due to interruptions of irradiation courses. The main ca uses of interruption were machine breakdown or delayed preparations of c errobend block for boost fields (55%), holidays (11%) and treatment toxi city and side effects (34%). Patients tre ated with prolonged OTT (> 45 days) had significant poorer local progression-free survival than whom with OTT of
CONCLUSION
OTT may have played an important role in determining local controls in radiotherapy for NSCLC. One should always keep in mind to make the OTT as short as possible, provided the patients can tolerate it, and to reduce irradiation interruptions for whatever reasons to a minimum.
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Would you add any additional dose or fractions?
New answer by Radiation Oncologist at Premiere Radiation Oncology (April 18, 2025)
I would add additional fractions and escalate the dose to exceptionally high levels to ensure ablation.During Hurricane Helene, we faced a challenging situation with several l...