Once Weekly Radiation for Lung Cancer With Chemotherapy

Study Summary

This program is designed for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The study is designed for patients whose cancer is too advanced and therefore cannot be operated with the goal of completely removing the cancer. Patients at this stage of their disease traditionally receive radiation therapy or chemotherapy or both treatments in succession. Recently, the administration of both methods of treatment has been employed and preliminary studies indicate somewhat better results. Specifically, a new class of chemotherapy agents called taxanes used in combination with radiation therapy appear promising as determined in small studies. However, the best treatment for this type of cancer has not been established yet. One goal of this study is to investigate if the combination of the new drug Taxotere (a drug belonging to the taxane class) given on the day of the radiation is well tolerated and will result in enhanced shrinkage of the cancer compared to traditional radiation therapy. In this study the radiation will be given on one day, rather than divided over five days per week (Monday through Friday) as in previous studies. Previous research has shown that both equal in how effective they are in treating lung cancer. The study will use the drug Taxotere in conjunction with radiation therapy. Taxotere is an approved medicine by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of lung cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the chemotherapy drug Taxotere administered once weekly together with concurrent radiation on the same day is effective in shrinking non-small cell lung cancer. This trial will also investigate how well this treatment is tolerated and what effects this treatment will have on the everyday life and activities of participants.

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• DRUG Chemotherapy
• PROCEDURE Radiation

Study Locations (1)