RESULTS For patients who have undergone surgical resection , high-level evidence suggests that use of postoperative RT does not influence survival , but optimizes local control for patients with N2 involvement , and its use in the setting of positive margins or gross primary /nodal residual disease is recommended .
No high-level evidence exists for the routine use of preoperative induction chemoradiation therapy ; however , modern surgical series and a post-hoc Intergroup 0139 clinical trial analysis suggest that a survival benefit may exist if patients are properly selected and surgical techniques/postoperative care is optimized .
PURPOSE To provide guidance to physicians and patients with regard to the use of adjuvant external beam radiation therapy ( RT ) in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer ( LA NSCLC ) based on available medical evidence complemented by consensus-based expert opinion .
Postoperative radiation therapy in lung caner: a controlled trial after resection of curative design.
Abstract Postoperative supervoltage radiotherapy was tested in a controlled clinical trial in an attempt to improve the survival for patients with bronchogenic carcinoma .  Radiation therapy began 3 to 4 weeks after surgery ; three fields were used giving a dose of 6,000 rad in six weeks to the mediastinum from a Co 60 unit . Between 1966 and 1975 , 224 patients were included in this study . All had a resection of curative design . 175 patients were evaluable . No increase in survival time was noticed in the irradiated group . The 5 year survival rate was lower in this group ( 24 % versus 43 % for the control group ) but the difference was not statistically significant . For squamous cell carcinoma , the analysis showed a detrimental effect of radiation therapy in the T 2 group (
RESULTS For patients who have undergone surgical resection , high-level evidence suggests that use of postoperative RT does not influence survival , but optimizes local control for patients with N2 involvement , and its use in the setting of positive margins or gross primary /nodal residual disease is recommended .
No high-level evidence exists for the routine use of preoperative induction chemoradiation therapy ; however , modern surgical series and a post-hoc Intergroup 0139 clinical trial analysis suggest that a survival benefit may exist if patients are properly selected and surgical techniques/postoperative care is optimized .
PURPOSE To provide guidance to physicians and patients with regard to the use of adjuvant external beam radiation therapy ( RT ) in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer ( LA NSCLC ) based on available medical evidence complemented by consensus-based expert opinion .