RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug and combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of various schedules of radiation therapy and combination chemotherapy using vinblastine and cisplatin or cisplatin and etoposide in treating patients with stage II or stage III non-small cell lung cancer that cannot be removed surgically.
OBJECTIVES: I. Compare the survival rate of patients with locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer randomized to concomitant vinblastine/cisplatin (VBL/CDDP) and thoracic radiotherapy versus sequential VBL/CDDP and once-daily thoracic radiotherapy. II. Compare the survival rate of such patients randomized to 2 courses of concomitant etoposide/cisplatin and hyperfractionated thoracic radiotherapy versus sequential VBL/CDDP and once-daily thoracic radiotherapy. III. Assess the frequency of treatment-related esophageal and hematologic toxicity/morbidity in patients on concomitant versus sequential chemoradiation treatment arms. OUTLINE: Randomized study. The following acronyms are used: CDDP Cisplatin, NSC-119875 VBL Vinblastine, NSC-49842 VP-16 Etoposide, NSC-141540 Arm I: 2-Drug Combination Chemotherapy Followed by Radiotherapy. CDDP/VBL; followed by thoracic irradiation using photons of at least 6 MV (electrons may be used to boost the supraclavicular lymph nodes). Arm II: Radiotherapy plus 2-Drug Combination Chemotherapy. Thoracic irradiation using equipment as in Arm I; plus CDDP/VBL. Arm III: Hyperfractionated Radiotherapy plus 2-Drug Combination Chemotherapy. Thoracic irradiation using equipment as in Arm I; plus CDDP/VP-16. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 597 patients will be entered over 3.1-4.2 years. If fewer than 6 patients/month are accrued, the feasibility of the study will be re-evaluated.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
100 mg/m2 i.v. over 30-60 minutes, days 1 \& 29
Oral etoposide given 50 mg b.i.d. X 10 only on RT treatment days 1-5, 8-12, 29-33, and 36-40. 75 mg/day if body surface area \< 1.7 m2
5 mg/m2 i.v. bolus weekly first 5 weeks of RT
Overall Survival
Time frame: from date of randomization to date of death or last follow-up for patients still alive
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Enrollment
610
63 Gy/7 wks/34 daily fractions (1.8 Gy X 25 fx then 2.0 Gy X 9 fX) beginning day 50 of protocol treatment
50 mg/m2 i.v. over 30-60 minutes on days 1, 8, 29, and 36
63 Gy/7 wks/34 daily fractions (1.8 Gy X 25 fx then 2.0 Gy X 9 fx) beginning day 1 of protocol treatment
69.6 Gy/6 wks/58 X 1.2 Gy twice daily fractions (at least 6 hours apart) beginning day 1 of protocol therapy