Moving radiotherapy forward - CHART-ED

Continuous Hyperfractionated Accelerated RadioTherapy (CHART) remains an important radiotherapy study.  Dr Matthew Hatton from Sheffield ECMC lead the multi-site phase I trial CHART-ED to assess the feasibility of radiotherapy dose-escalation for treating patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The trial recruited patients who presented with locally advanced inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and who may be suitable for radical radiotherapy (RT). The study, funded by CRUK and sponsored by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, was able to recruit 19 patients from 5 UK centres. Results reported no dose limiting toxicities and concluded a maximum dose of 64.8Gy/42f/17 days.

The Sheffield ECMC are currently planning a randomised phase II comparison of the dose escalated chemo-radiotherapy CHART-ED schedule with a concurrent chemo-radiotherapy protocol once the phase I is completed.