High-Dose Radiation Improves Lung Cancer Survival, U-M Study Finds

Concurrent chemotherapy, radiation also linked to better survival

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Higher doses of radiation
combined with chemotherapy improve survival in patients with stage III lung
cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan
Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Standard treatment for this stage of lung cancer -- when the tumor is likely
too large to be removed through surgery -- involves a combination of radiation
therapy with chemotherapy. But, this new study finds, giving chemotherapy at
the same time as the radiation enhances the effect of both. Further,
increasing the dose of radiation over the course of treatment also increased
survival.

"When patients are diagnosed with stage III lung cancer, surgery is often not
an option, and survival rates are typically quite low. Finding new ways to
improve survival, even in small increments, is crucial," says senior study
author Feng-Ming Kong, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of radiation oncology
at the U-M Medical School and chief of radiation oncology at the Ann Arbor VA
Healthcare System.

The study, published in the April 1 issue of the International Journal of
Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, looked at 237 patients who had been
treated for stage III non-small cell lung cancer at U-M and the VA Ann Arbor.

The researchers compared survival among patients treated with radiation alone,
with radiation followed by chemotherapy, and with radiation and chemotherapy
given at the same time. Thirty-one of the patients were also enrolled in a
study in which the radiation dose was increased throughout the course of the
treatment.

Patients treated with radiation alone had the worst overall survival rates,
living only an average 7.4 months after diagnosis. Adding chemotherapy
increased survival to 14.9 months when it was administered after completing
radiation and 15.8 months when administered at the same time as radiation.
After five years, 19.4 percent of the patients receiving concurrent
chemotherapy were still alive, compared to only 7.5 percent of patients
receiving sequential chemotherapy.

"Our study shows chemotherapy helps, and high dose radiation helps. But it's
challenging to administer these treatments at the same time because of the
potential toxicity associated with the high dose radiation," Kong says.

U-M researchers are currently looking at using PET imaging during the course
of lung cancer treatment to personalize high dose radiation therapy in many
individual patients. As the tumor becomes smaller during treatment, increasing
the radiation dose will become more tolerable because it is targeting a
smaller area. The U-M researchers believe this strategy could lead to improved
treatment outcomes in many patients. Kong currently leads a clinical trial
that is following patients through their treatment to look at the impact on
survival of increasing radiation dose.

Lung cancer statistics: 215,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer
this year and 161,800 will die from the disease, according to the American
Cancer Society

Additional authors:Li Wang, M.D., Ph.D.; Candace R. Correa, M.D.; Lujun Zhao,
M.D., Ph.D.; James Hayman, M.D.; Gregory P. Kalemkerian, M.D.; Susan Lyons,
M.D., Ph.D.; Kemp Cease, M.D.; and Dean Brenner, M.D.

Funding: Pardee Foundation, American Society of Clinical Oncology Career
Development Award

Reference: International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, Vol.
73, No. 5, pp. 1383-1390

Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, www.mcancer.org

SOURCE University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center

Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu, or Margarita Bauza, mbauza@umich.edu,
+1-734-764-2220, both of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer
Center