The role of radiation therapy in thoracic tumors.

Radiation plays an important role in the treatment of thoracic tumors. During the last 10 years there have been several major advances in thoracic RT including the incorporation of concurrent chemotherapy and the application of con-formal radiation-delivery techniques (eg, stereotactic RT, three-dimensional conformal RT, and intensity-modulated RT) that allow radiation dose escalation. Radiation as a local measure remains the definitive treatment of medically inoperable or surgically unresectable disease in NSCLC and part of a multimodality regimen for locally advanced NSCLC, limited stage SCLC, esophageal cancer, thymoma, and mesothelioma.