Gemcitabine concurrent with thoracic radiotherapy after induction chemotherapy with gemcitabine/vinorelbine in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a phase I study.

Purpose: To determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of gemcitabine every 2 weeks to a concurrent radiotherapy administered during an aggressive program of sequential and simultaneous radio-/chemotherapy for locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: Ten patients with histologically confirmed NSCLC were observed and treated in accordance with a combined radio-/chemotherapy protocol. This included two cycles of induction chemotherapy with gemcitabine (1,200 mg/m(2)) and vinorelbine (30 mg/m(2)) at days 1, 8 and 22, 29, followed by concurrent radiotherapy including [(18)F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-(FDG-PET-)based target volume definition (2.