CSP #2005 - Veterans Affairs Lung Cancer Surgery Or Stereotactic Radiotherapy Trial (VALOR)
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
Patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer have been historically treated with surgery whenever they are fit for an operation. However, an alternative treatment known as stereotactic radiotherapy now appears to offer an equally effective alternative. Doctors believe both are good treatments and are therefore conducting this study to determine if one may be possibly better than the other.
Description
The standard of care for stage I non-small cell lung cancer has historically been surgical resection in patients who are medically fit to tolerate an operation. Recent data now suggests that stereotactic radiotherapy may be a suitable alternative. This includes the results from a pooled analysis of two incomplete phase III studies that reported a 15% overall survival advantage with stereotactic radiotherapy at 3 years. While these data are promising, the median follow-up period was short, the results underpowered, and the findings were in contradiction to multiple retrospective studies that de…