Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• Histological confirmation (by biopsy or cytology) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to treatment; the following primary cancer types are eligible: squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma, large cell neuroendocrine, or non-small cell carcinoma not otherwise specified; Note: although bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma is a subtype of NSCLC, patients with the pure type of this malignancy are excluded from this study because the spread of this cancer between adjacent airways is difficult to target on computed tomography (CT).
• Stage T1, N0, M0 or T2 (≤ 5 cm), N0, M0, (AJCC Staging, 6th Ed.), based upon #3.
• Minimum diagnostic workup:
• History/physical examination, including weight and assessment of Zubrod performance status, within 4 weeks prior to registration;
• Evaluation by an experienced thoracic cancer clinician (a thoracic surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, or pulmonologist) within 8 weeks prior to registration;
• CT scan with intravenous contrast (unless medically contraindicated) within 8 weeks prior to registration of the entirety of both lungs and the mediastinum, liver, and adrenal glands; the primary tumor dimension will be measured on the CT. Positron emission tomography (PET) evaluation of the liver and adrenal glands also is permitted. In addition, if the enrolling institution has a combined PET/CT scanner and both aspects are of diagnostic quality and read by a trained radiologist, the PET/CT will meet the staging requirements for both CT and PET.
• Whole body or wide field FDG-PET within 8 weeks prior to registration with adequate visualization of the primary tumor and draining lymph node basins in the hilar and mediastinal regions and adrenal glands; in the event of lung consolidation, atelectasis, inflammation or other confounding features, PET-based imaging correlated with CT imaging will establish the maximal tumor dimensions. Standardized uptake value (SUV) must be measured on PET. To be included in this analysis, the patient's PET studies must be performed with a dedicated bismuth germanium oxide (BGO), lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), or gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (GSO) PET or PET/CT scanner. PET scanners with sodium iodide (Nal) detectors are not acceptable. If the baseline PET study is performed at the treating institution (or its affiliated PET facility), it is recommended that the reassessment PET scans be performed at the same site.
• Pulmonary function tests (PFTs): Routine spirometry, lung volumes, and diffusion capacity, within 8 weeks prior to registration; arterial blood gases are optional. Note: All patients enrolled in this study must have these pulmonary assessments whether or not the reason for their medical inoperability is pulmonary based, since the objective assessment of pulmonary factors is a component of the outcomes assessment for this study.
• Patients with hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes ≤ 1cm and no abnormal hilar or mediastinal uptake on PET will be considered N0. Patients with > 1 cm hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes on CT or abnormal PET (including suspicious but non-diagnostic uptake) may still be eligible if directed tissue biopsy of all abnormally identified areas are negative for cancer.
• The patient's resectable NSCLC must be considered medically inoperable by an experienced thoracic cancer clinician (a thoracic surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, or pulmonologist) or a standard lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection/sampling procedure. The patient may have underlying physiological medical problems that would prohibit a surgery due to a low probability of tolerating general anesthesia, the operation, the postoperative recovery period, or the removal of adjacent functioning lung. These types of patients with severe underlying health problems are deemed "medically inoperable." Standard justification for deeming a patient medically inoperable based on pulmonary function for