Researchers in Melbourne have used a new targeted treatment technique to achieve the highest-ever long-term survival rates for patients with some forms of lung cancer.

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre research team used PET/CT scans to determine the location and stage of tumours in 76 patients with locally-advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The patients were treated with a combination of radical radiation therapy and chemotherapy, leading to a four year survival rate of 32 per cent, the highest ever published.

The research team leader, Associate Professor Michael MacManus, says that is dramatically higher than the historic average of between 10 and 20 per cent.

"We were really gobsmacked and delighted that the survival was so good," he said.

"We're very much ahead of the game in respect to this.

"We're very pleased that our public hospital patients in Melbourne are receiving treatment that's produced results that are in fact better than anything reported so far in the world in this group of patients."

He says the scanning method also helped identify which patients should be spared unnecessary treatment.

The results of the study will be published in the journal Radiation and Oncology.