Comparable Study of Different Thoracic Radiotherapy Regimens for Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Most patients with extensive stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) who undergo chemotherapy, and prophylactic cranial irradiation, have persistent intrathoracic disease. A Dutch study recently proved that thoracic radiotherapy(TRT), using 30 Gy in 10 fractions of 3 Gy, could improve 2-year overall survival(OS) of this patient group compared with non-TRT group. But intrathoracic progression was still high, either with or without progression elsewhere, occurring in 43.7% in the TRT group. The ideal TRT regimen for ES-SCLC is undefined. Maybe higher dose can provide better local control(LC) and overall survival. In this study, the investigators propose to give an increased dose of TRT to determine whether higher dose will improve 2-year OS, LC and progression-free survival.