Once Weekly Radiation for Lung Cancer With Chemotherapy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2004-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
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.