Oat cell carcinoma of the lung.Early treatment results of combination radiation therapy and chemotherapy

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Abstract
Since August 1974, 50 patients with histologically proven oat cell carcinoma of the lung were treated at Indiana University Hospitals with a combination of adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, Oncovin, BCG immunotherapy, and radiation therapy to the primary lung tumor and whole brain. Twenty‐nine patients are eligible for a 6‐month follow‐up and are included in this report. All 29 patients responded to therapy; 12 patients (41%) had a minimum of 50% reduction in tumor mass and 17 patients (59%) had complete clinical remission of disease. Eight (38%) of the 29 patients have remained in complete remission from 6 to 14 months, and 90% of the patients survived a minimum of 6 months. This represents a considerable improvement in survival rates over what had been obtained at Indiana University Hospitals previously.