Unexpected long-term survival after low-dose palliative radiotherapy for nonsmall cell lung cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND. Many experienced oncologists have encountered patients with proven nonsmall cell lung cancer (NCLC) who received modest doses of palliative radiotherapy (RT) and who unexpectedly survived for > 5 years; some were apparently cured. We used a very large prospective database to estimate the frequency of this phenomenon and to look for correlative prognostic factors. METHODS. Patients with histologically or cytologically proven NSCLC, treated with palliative RT to a dose of ≤ 36 Gy, were identified from a prospective database containing details of 3035 new patients registered from 1984-1990. RESULTS. An estimated 1.1% (95% confidence interval, 0.7-1.6%) of 2337 palliative RT patients..