Phase II Trial of Concurrent Paclitaxel, Carboplatin and External Beam Radiotherapy Followed by Surgical Resection in Stage IIIA (N2) Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Phase II Trial of Concurrent Paclitaxel, Carboplatin and External Beam Radiotherapy Followed by Surgical Resection in Stage IIIA (N2) Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining these treatments before surgery may kill more tumor cells in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy before surgery in treating patients who have stage IIB non-small cell lung cancer or stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer.
OBJECTIVES:
OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.
Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 1 hour and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes weekly for 5 weeks. Patients also undergo concurrent radiotherapy daily 5 days a week for 5 weeks in the absence of unacceptable toxicity. At approximately 4 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy, patients with stable or regressive disease undergo surgical resection. If disease is unresectable, patients receive an additional 2 weeks of radiotherapy.
Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 29-30 patients will be accrued for this study.
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
Histologically confirmed bulky stage IIB or stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer
No contralateral lymph node involvement
No malignant pleural effusion
No distant metastases
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
Age:
Performance status:
Life expectancy:
Hematopoietic:
Hepatic:
Renal:
Other:
PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
Biologic therapy:
Chemotherapy:
Endocrine therapy:
Radiotherapy:
Surgery: