ASTRO 2010 Featured Twenty RTOG Presentations: Four of Which Were Primary Aim Results of Its Multicenter Clinical Trials

(ACR) -- ASTRO 2010 Featured Twenty RTOG Presentations: Four of Which Were Primary Aim Results of Its Multicenter Clinical Trials

Again in 2010, RTOG had a major presence at the American Society of Radiation Therapeutic Radiation (ASTRO) Annual Meeting. RTOG investigators presented at 20 scientific sessions. The following is a summary of one of the four presentations that announced primary research results.

RTOG 0229 principal investigator Mohan Suntharalingam, MD, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, presented results of a phase 2 multi-institutional trial that confirm the ability of neoadjuvent concurrent induction chemotherapy and full dose radiation therapy to sterilize known mediastinal nodal disease. Participating institutions accrued 60 patients (43 evaluable for endpoint assessment) with confirmed stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC and who were good surgical candidates. Surgeons supporting the trial had documented experience performing resections post chemoradiation.

Trial results confirmed that the neoadjuvant therapy is well tolerated and surgery can be safely performed which supports the contention that tri-modality therapy remains a viable option for carefully selected NSCLC patients presenting with stage III disease.