Cisplatin and Etoposide Concurrent with Radiotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Single Institution Experience

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western countries. Phase III trials have demonstrated an improvement in survival with the combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy over radiation alone for patients with a good performance status with stage III NSCLC. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with unresectable NSCLC treated with radical chemoradiotherapy at Northampton Oncology Centre in the period of May 2005-December 2010. Results: There is a statistically significant advantage in overall survival for adenocarcinoma patients over those with squamous cell carcinoma p=0.033. Median overall survival (OS) for patients with adenocarcinoma was 37 months (std. error 13.098., 95% CI 11.328-62.672) while squamous cell carcinoma OS was 13 months (std error 7.115, 95% CI 000 26.946). Conclusion: Our survival data for concurrent chemoradiotherapy matches with the international published data. Future research is needed to define the best concurrent chemotherapy regimen as well as the role of consolidation and maintenance chemotherapy.