Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both menand women. The American Cancer Society estimates there will bemore than 160,000 deaths from lung cancer in 2005; nearly 60percent of the people diagnosed will die within one year of their diagnosis, and nearly 75 percent within 2 years.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine haverecently opened two new lung cancer clinical trials that expandthe options for lung cancer patients. The trials are the newestin the school's history of success in innovative treatments forlung cancers.

Both studies are for individuals with non-small cell lung cancer,which accounts for the large majority of all diagnosed lung cancers.

One trial continues a treatment developed at IU that uses precisionmapping and high-dose radiation. This portion of the clinicaltrial, building on the clinical success of the study, is sponsoredby the National Cancer Institute and will involve the Schoolof Medicine and five other U.S. medical centers.

In the second study, patients with operable lung cancer willreceive high-dose stereotactic radiation therapy (stereotacticradiation therapy uses special equipment to position the patientand limit mobility while delivering a large radiation dose preciselyto a tumor), followed by a new chemotherapy regimen. No surgeryis involved. The addition of chemotherapy has been shown recentlyto be effective at reducing recurrence. IU physicians will administertwo cycles of a drug found to be less toxic but as effectiveas more established drugs.

The IU School of Medicine's Department of Radiation Oncologyis at the forefront of research into treatment options for patientswith lung cancer who are not candidates for traditional surgerydue to medical complications.

IU physicians designed the first study of the use of extracranialstereotactic body radiation therapy for early-stage lung cancerpatients who were considered medically inoperable. Enrollmentof the initial 47 patients was concluded in 2002.

“I think of this as a lung-sparing approach,” says Ronald C. McGarry, principal investigator of the study and an IU professorof clinical radiation oncology. “If we can treat early-stagelung cancer without taking out a lung or a large part of one,it is to the advantage of the patient.”

Early-stage lung cancer typically is treated with surgery, conventionalradiation, or both. Extracranial stereotactic body radiationtreatment spares healthy tissue from exposure to X-rays.

By precisely targeting only the tumor, higher doses of radiationover a shorter period of time can be administered. Patients receivethree treatments over seven to 10 days, versus standard therapywhere patients receive 35 treatments over a six-week period.

“The pioneering effort at IU and several other internationalcenters is showing that stereotactic radiation therapy is anotherimportant treatment option for all patients who are in the earlystages of lung cancer,” says McGarry. “The IU results have receivednational attention which has prompted the Radiation Therapy OncologyGroup of the National Cancer Institute to fund clinical trialsacross the U.S. and Canada involving this therapy.”