ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on Induction and Adjuvant Therapy for Stage N2 Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: expert panel on radiation oncology-lung.

"The American College of Radiology seeks and encourages collaboration with other organizations on the development of the ACR Appropriateness Criteria through society representation on expert panels. Participation by representatives from collaborating societies on the expert panel does not necessarily imply society endorsement of the final document."

ACR Appropriateness Criteria: nonsurgical treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer: good performance status/definitive intent.

The optimal strategy for the non-surgical definitive treatment of patients with good performance status non-small cell lung cancer (mostly with locally advanced disease) has dramatically evolved over time. This article presents evidence-based data to review this literature. Several decades ago, the standard treatment for most stage III inoperable NSCLC was definitive radiation therapy alone. Randomized trials have since shown superior results with sequential chemotherapy and radiation, and more recently with concurrent chemoradiation, the current standard of care. Studies suggest a limited role for induction or adjuvant systemic therapy in addition to concurrent chemoradiation. The role of altered radiation fractionation techniques, such as hyperfractionation for locally advanced disease or hypofractionation for early stage disease is also discussed. More recently, the application of more advanced radiation techniques has been explored, including intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and proton beam radiation. Finally, various case variants are presented as examples of state-of-the-art treatment approaches.

ACR appropriateness criteria on nonsurgical treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer: poor performance status or palliative intent.

Radiation therapy (RT) plays a major role in the definitive treatment of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who are unable to tolerate surgery. Radiation therapy alone is used primarily for early-stage (stages I and II) patients. Higher doses of RT (>65 Gy) seem to improve outcomes, and modern techniques such as stereotactic body RT have been very promising. For patients with locally advanced disease (stages IIIA and IIIB), concurrent chemotherapy and RT remains the standard of care. However, many patients cannot tolerate the regimen because of its toxicity. Sequential chemotherapy followed by RT is used in these situations. Radiation therapy alone is used for the rare patient who cannot tolerate the use of any chemotherapy because of comorbid conditions. Palliative external-beam RT is useful for patients with metastatic disease, causing symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, postobstructive pneumonia, and pain. Hypofractionation has been attempted as a means to provide more rapid and convenient symptom relief, but results from clinical trials are conflicting on whether it is an improvement over standard palliative fractionation. Endobronchial brachytherapy provides relief for patients with endobronchial lesions causing obstruction or hemoptysis. Palliative chemotherapy improves survival and quality of life in patients with metastatic disease compared with best supportive care. Chemotherapy also improves outcomes as a second-line and third-line treatment for patients in whom previous regimens have failed. Biologic therapies such as erlotinib and bevacizumab have been incorporated into every phase of chemotherapy with good results.