Palliative treatment of advanced non small cell lung cancer with weekly fraction radiotherapy

Various hypofractionated radiotherapy schedules of radiotherapy have been tried in patients of advanced NSCLC with no conclusive superiority of either a more protracted low dose per fraction schedule or a rapid course of large fraction size. Present study evaluates the role of weekly high dose radiotherapy for the palliation of various intrathoracic symptoms like cough, chest pain, hemoptysis, dyspnoea. A total of 47 patients of advanced non-small cell lung cancer were treated with four weekly fraction of 5 Gy to a total dose of 20 Gy. Mean age at presentation was 53 years. Majority of patients had stage III disease. Pain relief was seen in 77% (23/30) patients with complete relief in 57%; haemoptysis was completely relieved in 77% patients (17/22); and cough was relieved in 68% (19/28) patients. Complete relief from dyspnoea was seen in only 5/12 (42%) patients whereas 2/12 (17%) patients had partial response. The present regime of 20 Gy in four weekly fractions was well tolerated by the patients without any identifiable acute toxicity and was simple and convenient to the patients, who traverse a long distance for radiotherapy in India. To conclude, weekly schedule af EBRT provide effective palliation of various intrathoracic symptoms in the patients with advanced NSCLC.