Vorinostat, Paclitaxel, and Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients Unable to Tolerate Cisplatin With Stage III Non-Small Lung Cancer That Cannot Be Removed By Surgery

Inclusion Criteria

• •Histologically or cytologically proven diagnosis of NSCLC
• •Inoperable Stage IIIA or IIIB (excluding malignant pleural effusion) disease according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual, Sixth edition (2002)
• •At least one site of measurable disease, as defined by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-2
• •Inability to tolerate full dose cisplatin as defined by:
• •Creatinine clearance less than 50ml/min
• •Greater than grade 2 sensory hearing loss (as defined by National Cancer Institute \[NCI\] Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events \[CTCAE\] criteria v3.0 adverse event term "Hearing: Patients without baseline audiogram and not enrolled in a monitoring program")
• •Performance status \>= 2
• •Age \>= 75 years
• •Cardiac history, such as myocardial infarction within 6 months, angina, or heart disease as defined by the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III or IV
• •Any other comorbid disease or condition that would increase the risk of toxicity of cisplatin therapy
• •Female patient is either post menopausal, free from menses for \>= 2 years, surgically sterilized or willing to use 2 adequate barrier methods of contraception to prevent pregnancy or agrees to abstain from heterosexual activity throughout the study
• •Female patient of childbearing potential has a negative serum pregnancy test beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) within 7 days prior to receiving the first dose of vorinostat
• •Male patient agrees to use an adequate method of contraception for the duration of the study
• •Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1,500/mcL
• •Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
• •Hemoglobin \>= 9 g/dL
• •Prothrombin Time or International Normalized Ratio (INR) =\< 1.5x upper limit of normal (ULN) unless receiving therapeutic anticoagulation
• •Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) =\< 1.2 times the ULN unless the patient is receiving therapeutic anticoagulation
• •Potassium levels: Normal limits
• •Magnesium levels: Normal limits
• •Calculated creatinine clearance \>= 20 mL/min
• •Serum total bilirubin =\< 1.5 X ULN
• •Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamate oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\]) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 X ULN
• •Alkaline Phosphatase =\< 2.5 X ULN
• •Patient, or the patient's legal representative, has voluntarily agreed to participate by giving written informed consent
• •Patient has a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks
• •Patient is available for periodic blood sampling, study related assessments, and management at the treating institution for the duration of the study