Concomitant chemoradiotherapy: rationale and clinical experience in patients with solid tumors.

Concomitant chemoradiotherapy can be used in order to increase both the local and systemic control of solid tumors. The rationale for its use and experimental data for selected chemotherapy drugs are reviewed. Clinical trials have focused on increasing complete response (CR) and survival rates; in addition, improved quality of life by decreasing the use of conventional surgical procedures is being pursued. Both of these goals may have been...