Carboplatin and Paclitaxel Albumin-Stabilized Nanoparticle Formulation Followed by Radiation Therapy and Erlotinib in Treating Patients With Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer That Cannot Be Removed By Surgery

Exclusion Criteria

• •Must have measurable disease, defined as ≥ 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques or ≥ 10 mm by spiral CT scan
• •* Nonmeasurable lesions include the following:
• •* Bone lesions
• •* Leptomeningeal disease
• •* Ascites
• •* Pleural or pericardial effusion
• •* Abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques
• •* Cystic lesions
• •* Tumor lesions situated in a previously irradiated area
• •Patients must be considered unresectable or inoperable AND be deemed candidates for combined modality therapy by a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist
• •Considered to be poor-risk with NCI CTC performance status (PS) 2 OR PS 0-1 and ≥ 10% weight loss within the past 3 months
• •Patients with tumors adjacent to a vertebral body are eligible, provided all gross disease can be encompassed within the radiation boost field in accordance with the homogeneity criteria
• •Pleural effusions meeting the following criteria allowed:
• •* Effusion is transudate, cytologically negative, and non-bloody
• •* Effusion can be seen on the chest CT scan but not on the chest x-ray AND is too small to tap
• •* Effusion appears only after a thoracotomy or other invasive thoracic procedure was attempted
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •Granulocytes ≥ 1,500/μL
• •Platelet count ≥ 100,000/μL
• •Creatinine ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •AST \< 2 x ULN
• •Bilirubin ≤ ULN
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •No prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy for NSCLC
• •At least 2 weeks since formal exploratory thoracotomy
• •No concurrent administration of sucralfate suspension and erlotinib hydrochloride
• •No concurrent intensity-modulated radiotherapy
• •No concurrent hormones or other chemotherapeutic agents except steroids given for adrenal failure, hormones administered for non-disease-related conditions (e.g., insulin for diabetes), and intermittent use of dexamethasone as an antiemetic
• •No concurrent palliative radiotherapy