Background/Aim. About 1.8 million new lung cancer cases are diagnosed in the
world every year, and about 1.6 million cases are with fatal outcome.
Despite improvements in treatment in previous decades, the survival of
patients with lung cancer is still poor. The five-year survival rate is
about 50% for patients with localized disease, 20% for patients with
regionally advanced disease, 2% for patients with metastatic disease, and
about 14% for all stages. The median survival of patients with untreated
NSCLC in the advanced stage is four to five months and the annual survival
rate is only 10%. The main goal of the research is to obtain and analyze the
results of treatment with concomitant chemotherapy in terms of its efficacy
and toxicity in selected patients with locally advanced inoperable non-small
cell lung cancer. Methods. The study included data analysis of 31 patients
of both sexes who were diagnosed and pathohistologically verified with NSCLC
in inoperable stage III and were referred by the Council for Malignant Lung
Diseases to the Radiotherapy Department of the Military Medical Academy for
concomitant chemoradiotherapy treatment. Upon expiry of the three-month
period from the performed radiation treatment, the tumor resonance was
assessed on the basis of MSCT examination of the chest and upper abdomen
according to RECIST 1.1 criteria (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid
Tumors). According to the same criteria, progression-free survival (PFS) was
also assessed every three months during the first two years, then every 6
months or until the onset of disease symptoms, as well as overall survival
(OS). Result. The median progression-free survival is 13 months, and the
median overall survival is 20 months. During and immediately after RT, 9
(29%) patients had a grade 2 or higher adverse event. Conclusion. The use of
concomitant chemoradiotherapy in patients in the third stage of locally
advanced inoperable non-small cell lung cancer provides a good opportunity
for a favorable therapeutic outcome, with an acceptable degree of acute and
late toxicity, and represents the standard therapeutic approach for selected
patients in this stage of the disease.
Progression-Free Survival: An Important Prognostic Marker for Long-Term Survival of Small Cell Lung Cancer
