The primary objective of this proposal is the continued participation in cooperative clinical investigations seeking improvement in the use of radiation therapy for patients with malignant disease. The clinical trials are developed for an supervised by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) supported by the National Cancer Institute. Patients will be entered in existing RTOG trials. MCW faculty will participate in development of new protocols as another objective. MCQ is piloting studies that may lead themselves to cooperative clinical trials. A third objective is the enhanced communication with other intramural and extramural investigators always to assure state of the art treatment availability for patients at The Medical College of Wisconsin. Expanded participation in the Group is now possible as the result of the development of new protocols, especially in the areas of dose/time relationships and combination therapy with chemotherapy and irradiation. Data that have recently become available in regard to patterns of failure after treatment of a wide variety of malignant tumors are expected to lead to new treatment strategies, some of which will be implemented through the RTOG. Several MCW faculty will serve as subcommittee chairman or members for the various protocols to monitor the accession of patients from the RTOG member institutions to determine compliance with protocol guidelines, and to evaluate the data for summary conclusions and publications.
