Concurrent chemotherapy and thoracic irradiation in non-small cell lung cancer

Do results from recently reported phase II trials of combination chemotherapy and concurrent radiation warrant evaluation in a randomized study? Our bias is that only treatment regimens associated with a twofold increase in median survival should be considered for a phase III trial increase in median survival. Therefore, for stage IIIA N2 NSCLC patients median survival should increase from 12 to 24 months, and for stage IIIB patients, it should increase from 9 to 18 months. Although survival results from some combined modality trials are encouraging, thus far no concurrent chemotherapy-radiation regimen appears to have produced the preceding results.