International Clinical Trials in Radiation Oncology. Lung sites

The lung studies of the RTOG have been among the most productive of any in the group. The development of studies has been predicated upon failure pattern analyses from previous trials. Multiple approaches to attacking these diseases have been taken, including dose/fraction studies and high LET irradiations to improve local-regional control, prophylactic irradiation of sites of frequent, distant metastases, systemic chemotherapy and radioimmunoglobulins to control distant metastases, and biologic response modifiers to restore or enhance host defense mechanisms. All studies have been predicated upon making incremental advances in improving treatment outcome in these common disease, based on the philosophy that small improvements in survival will save thousands of lives.