A higher dose of radiotherapy, with weekends off to recover, allows better control in lung cancer.

Standard treatment for lung cancer involves a daily dose of radiotherapy five days a week, for six weeks. But better results have been found from a more intensive programme - known as CHART - which uses three doses a day for 12 days. Now researchers at the Mount Vernon Hospital, Middlesex, England, have taken CHART further.

Using computer models, they suggested that a higher dose of radiotherapy, over 18 days, with weekends off to recover, would give patients a better chance. This was borne out in practice. In a related study, the researchers learned that combining the new regime with chemotherapy increased remission rates from 55 per cent to 72 per cent.

Source

Clinical Oncology 5th September 2002