Chemotherapy, Radiation Therapy, and Surgery in Treating Patients With Stage IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine and compare the frequency and grade of toxicities with the use of gadolinium texaphyrin as a radiosensitizer at two dose levels during preoperative radiotherapy in patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. II. Measure the tumor, involved lymph nodes, and normal lung concentrations of gadolinium and compare to the image pixel intensity obtained by the 1.5 Tesla MRI in this patient population given this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a dose escalation study of gadolinium texaphyrin (Gd-Tex). Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours followed by carboplatin IV over 1-2 hours every 3 weeks for 3 courses. Three weeks after completion of induction chemotherapy, patients receive Gd-Tex IV over 30 minutes twice weekly for 10 doses during preoperative radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is administered daily 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Approximately 3.5 weeks after completion of preoperative radiotherapy, patients undergo complete surgical resection. Three hours prior to surgery, patients receive an eleventh dose of Gd-Tex if they do not develop grade 3 or 4 toxicity with the tenth dose. Patients also receive a MRI without contrast prior to surgery. If the tumor is found to be unresectable, patients may receive additional radiation and/or chemotherapy. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of Gd-Tex until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose limiting toxicities. Patients are followed at 1 month and then every 4 months for 5 years.