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[Clinical study of prophylactic cranial irradiation for small-cell lung cancer]
1Radiotherapy Department, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510060, China.
Objective:
To study the influence of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) on survival and brain metastases in patients with limited small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).
Methods:
Fiftyone patients with limited SCLC under complete remission after chemoradiotherapy were randomly divided into prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) group (n = 26) and control group (n = 25). Patients in PCI group received irradiation at a dose of 25.2-30.6 Gy. Survival rates were analyzed and compared by life table and Long-Rank, incidence of cranial metastases by chi 2 test.
Results:
The clinical features of patients such as age, sex, effect of treatment before PCI were similar between the two groups. The incidence of cranial metastases was 3.8% in PCI group in contrast to 28% in the control group (P < 0.05). The 1, 2, 3-year survival rate was 84.6%, 73.1%, 42.3% respectively in PCI group and 72%, 40%, 32% respectively in the control group. The differences between the two groups of petients were statistically insignificant. No serious sequela was observed in patients receiving PCI.
Conclusion:
PCI decreases the incidence of cranial metastases for patients with limited SCLC following complete response to chemoradiotherapy, but it does not improve survival.