Radiation Therapy To Prevent Brain Tumours Can Improve Survival For Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Patients with small-cell lung cancer who receive a course of radiation therapy to their heads after responding to chemotherapy live longer and are less likely to develop secondary brain tumours, a common feature of this disease, than those who are offered no further treatment, according to the results of a randomised controlled trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med 2007; 357: 664-72)

Small-cell lung cancer, which mainly occurs in current or former smokers, spreads quickly and is rapidly fatal. Advances in treatment have done little to improve survival rates over the past 25 years and brain metastases are common with this disease. At least 18% of patients already have secondary brain tumours when they get their diagnosis and at 2 years 80% of patients show symptoms of brain involvement.

source article