Evaluation of changes in tumor volume following upfront chemotherapy for locally advanced Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Omer Sager*, Ferrat Dincoglan, Selcuk Demiral and Murat Beyzadeoglu

Objective: In the setting of upfront chemotherapy, some degree of reduction in primary tumor volume may occur. This may be of critical importance in the setting of locally advanced Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) when upfront definitive irradiation is not feasible due to critical organ dose constraints. Selected patients with tumor volume reduction after upfront systemic therapy may be considered for curative radiation therapy (RT). To address this issue, we evaluated changes in tumor volume following upfront chemotherapy for NSCLC in this original article.

Materials and methods: Patients receiving upfront chemotherapy for locally advanced NSCLC were identified and analyzed. All patients had upfront chemotherapy and were subsequently referred for curative RT at Department of Radiation Oncology, Gulhane Medical Faculty, University of Health Sciences. Tumor size changes following upfront chemotherapy have been documented for performing the comparative evaluation. 

Results: Decision making for individualized management of patients was based on thorough multidisciplinary evaluation with input from experts in pulmonology, pulmonary surgery, radiology, medical oncology, and radiation oncology. Tumor size changes were assessed in a series of patients receiving upfront chemotherapy for NSCLC. There was a mean decrease of 24% in tumor volume following upfront chemotherapy. 

Conclusion: A mean decrease of 24% in tumor volume occurred following upfront chemotherapy in our study for patients with locally advanced NSCLC having extensive tumor burden. Adaptation of curative RT target volumes with respect to tumor volume reductions should be assessed in prospective randomized studies to shed light on the issue of reduced volume irradiation.

Keywords:

Published on: Mar 15, 2021 Pages: 31-34

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2581-5407.000039
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