Treatment patterns of elderly patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer in real-world data: A multicentre...

Chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy is the standard treatment regimen for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). However, there are few clinical studies on elderly patients with LS-SCLC. A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in elderly patients.

Patients aged 70 years or older who were diagnosed with LS-SCLC and treated at Shandong Cancer Hospital and Tianjin Cancer Hospital between January 2020 and December 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. The objective response rate (ORR) and the incidence of adverse reactions were analysed. A comparative analysis of patients' overall survival (OS) was conducted based on the different treatment modalities received.

A total of 318 patients were included in this study. In the overall population, the median overall survival (mOS) was 20.52 months. Further analysis revealed that patients receiving 4-6 cycles of chemotherapy achieved prolonged OS compared with those receiving 2-3 cycles (mOS: 30.56 months vs 15.56 months, p < 0.001). Patients who received thoracic radiation therapy (TRT) demonstrated superior mOS compared with those who did not (30.13 months vs 15.61 months, p < 0.001), and those who received prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) also showed significantly improved mOS compared with non-recipients (44.48 months vs 22.75 months, p < 0.001).

Standard chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy may provide survival benefits, and the incidence of adverse reactions was within an acceptable range.