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WHAT ARE THE RADIATION THERAPIES FOR NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER?

Indications for Radiation
Radiation is the other primary treatment for early-stage lung cancer. It is may be used in the following wash:

As the sole procedure in Stage I and some Stage II patients who have adequate lung function but, for medical or other reasons, cannot be treated surgically. In these cases, the five-year survival rate is about 20%, and the cancer is likely to recur, although survival rates may be higher or lower depending on the tumor size. In general, with radiation therapy alone, the larger the tumor, the lower a patient's chance of survival.

For Stage III patients with poor lung function and those with metastasized cancer. Radiation, in these cases, is not generally used with the intention of improving survival rates, but to shrink cancers and reduce pain and other symptoms, such as coughing and shortness of breath. It may even improve survival in those with excellent lung function and whose tumors are small enough that thoracoscopy is needed to detect them. In up to 85% of patients with advanced disease, radiation therapy helps relieve pain, shortness of breath, the superior vena cava syndrome, coughed-up blood, and symptoms caused by brain metastases.

Standard Radiation Procedures.

The goal of radiation treatment is to administer doses as high as possible, to kill as many cancer cells as possible, without at the same time destroying surrounding healthy tissues. Different procedures may be tried. The exact radiation procedure depends on the site of the cancer or its extent:

External-Beam Radiation. External-beam radiation therapy focuses a beam of radiation directly on the tumor. It is generally used for metastasized cancer.

Brachytherapy. Brachytherapy implants radioactive seeds through thin tubes directly into the cancer sites. Brachytherapy may be used for lung cancers that have spread to the throat and cause obstruction. High-dose-rate brachytherapy also be have some value for patients who have inoperable tumors in the central region of the lung.
Other Radiation Procedures
New radiotherapy techniques and sequences are being developed to allow higher doses with fewer side effects and sometimes better results:

Hyperfractionated Radiotherapy. Hyperfractionated radiotherapy administers smaller than standard doses a number of times a day (usually two or three). This allows a higher cumulative dose over the whole course of treatment. It is not useful as sole therapy, however; it needs to be combined with chemotherapy to have any survival benefits.

Hyperfractionated Accelerated Radiotherapy. Continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (CHART) administers multiple doses per day but uses standard levels. This allows the total dose of radiation to be administered over a shorter time period than the standard six weeks. CHART is proving to extend two-year survival of patients with localized cancer over that of standard radiotherapy or non-accelerated hyperfractionated radiation. Though it causes more severe swallowing problems than does standard radiotherapy, a modification in which treatment is suspended for two days out of seven may help reduce this effect.

Radiation Therapy in Metastasis to the Brain. Radiation is the primary treatment when cancer has spread to the brain unless the cancer is small enough to be treated surgically. In such cases, a technique called stereotactic radiosurgery may be employed that delivers powerful, highly targeted radiation to specific areas in the brain.

Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy. Three-dimensional (3-D) conformal radiotherapy involves external-beam radiation that is designed to conform closely to the specific targeted organs or tissues, therefore allowing higher doses. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is a recent advance on conformal radiation that uses a body frame and an abdominal press to immobilize the patient's body and limit breath movement. This allows a more precise delivery of high-energy photons, which are delivered to the tumor using a linear accelerator. The technique is not widely available, however, and is still investigational.
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(source- http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/health/a-z/72NonSmallCellLung/doc72radiation.html © 2001 Nidus Information Services, Inc.)