Press Release: Costs of Long-Course Palliative Radiotherapy Acceptable in Late-Stage Lung Cancer

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A longer, less intense course of radiotherapy provides better value for the money than a shorter, more intense regimen when given to ease pain and other complaints in patients with late-stage non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study in the December 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Patients with late-stage NSCLC are often too ill to receive intensive treatment for their cancer. Palliative radiotherapy is given to ease symptoms such as chest pain and difficulty breathing and swallowing. In 1999, Wilbert B. van den Hout, Ph.D., of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial in 297 patients with inoperable stage IIIA/B or stage IV NSCLC to compare two palliative radiotherapy regimens—a short course, two treatments of 8 gray (Gy) of radiation each, with a long course, 10 treatments of 3 Gy each. They found that the long course better eased symptoms over time and improved 1-year survival compared with the short course.