We investigated the potential of nitroglycerin as a radio-sensitizer in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the potential of functional imaging for patient selection. Nitroglycerin is proposed as an agent to reduce tumour hypoxia by improving tumour perfusion.

The trial was closed after 47 patients had been enrolled because an intermediate analysis found that nitroglycerin was unlikely to increase survival of lung cancer patients. The final results show that adding nitroglycerin to radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer did not improve survival compared to what would have been expected without nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin patches were well tolerated. Also, nitroglycerin did not modify the oxygen level in the tumours, which was the initial hypothesis made by the researchers.
Overall, nitroglycerin is not considered a good sensitizer to radiotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The results have been published in the scientific journal Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology.

Read more on this trial here.