Concomitant chemoradiotherapy with Cisplatin dose escalation as palliative therapy for advanced malignancies of the chest

The simultaneous or concomitant administration of a chemotherapeutic agent with radiation therapy has been employed as a unique treatment modality in a number of locally advanced malignancies including head and neck cancer, limited stage small cell lung cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma of the anus, as well as in esophageal carcinoma. Concomitant chemoradiotherapy is aimed at improving local control by overcoming radioresistance, and at eradicating distant micrometastasis to decrease systemic failure rates [1].