Purpose: This multicenter trial investigated whether daily pretreatment with amifostine (A) could reduce the incidence of acute and late lung toxicity and esophagitis without affecting antitumor efficacy of radiation in advanced lung cancer.
Patients and methods: Radiotherapy (XRT) patients (n = 146) received a daily fraction of 2 Gy/5 days/week to a total of 55-60 Gy +/- amifostine 340 mg/m(2) administered daily 15 min before irradiation. Acute and late toxicities were graded from 0 to 4 according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer system.
Results: Ninety-seven patients were evaluated 2 months post-XRT for the incidence of pneumonitis; 43% (23/53) of patients in the XRT arm and 9% (4/44) in the A + XRT arm experienced > or = Grade 2 pneumonitis (p < 0.001) [corrected]. Forty-nine percent (26/53) of patients in the XRT arm and 16% (7/44) in the A+XRT arm demonstrated changes representative of > or = Grade 2 lung damage (p < 0.001). At 6 months, fibrosis was present in 53% (19/36) receiving XRT vs. 28% (9/32) receiving A+XRT (p < 0.05). Incidence of esophagitis > or = Grade 2 during Week 4 was 42% (31/73) in the XRT arm vs. 4% (3/73) in the A+XRT arm (p < 0.001). Among 97 patients evaluable for response 2 months after XRT, complete or partial response was present in 76% (40/53) of patients in the XRT arm and 75% (33/44) in the A+XRT arm (p = 1.0).
Conclusion: Amifostine reduces the incidence of pneumonitis, lung fibrosis, and esophagitis in radiotherapy patients with lung cancer without compromising antitumor efficacy.