Repeated computed tomography during treatment of small cell carcinoma of the lung

Twenty-three patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung were examined with CT and conventional chest radiography before treatment, 19 after 3 courses of chemotherapy, before radiation therapy, and 8 after cessation of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In most patients high abdominal CT was also employed. CT provided more information about the thoracic involvement than did conventional radiography in more than half of the cases. In 3 cases CT before irradiation demonstrated progression in the thorax, not visible at conventional radiography, and in 4 cases progression of extrathoracic metastases in spite of intrathoracic regression. After therapy, one case of progression in the thorax not seen at conventional radiography was demonstrated. With repeated CT examinations of the thorax and abdomen, progression/regression both intra- and extrathoracically is well demonstrated.