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Vol.44 No.2 contents | Japanese/English |
 | Full Text of PDF (80K) Article in Japanese |
- Review -
Radiation Therapy for Small Cell Lung Cancer
Yasumasa Nishimura11Department of Radiology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Japan
The role of radiation therapy (RT) in the treatment of small cell lung cancer has been established. Recently, guidelines for clinical practice for lung cancer according to the method of evidence-based medicine and guidelines for RT planning have been published. In this review, standard treatments of RT for small cell lung cancer were summarized. For patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer, early and concurrent combination of chemotherapy and thoracic RT improve overall survival. Two meta-analyses on prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) demonstrated that PCI reduced the rates of brain metastases and improved the overall survival rates significantly. Therefore, for patients with CR or good PR by the initial treatment for small cell lung cancer, PCI is recommended by the guidelines.
key words: Small cell lung cacer, Radiation therapy, Prophylactic cranial irradiation, Accelerated hyperfractionation
JJLC 44 (2): 71-75, 2004
