Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation Versus Observation in Stage IV NSCLC Randomized Controlled Clinical Study

Lung cancer has remained the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. An important and frequent cause of morbidity in this patient group is the development of brain metastases (BM). Lung cancer represents the leading cause of BM, and previous reports have shown that approximately 40% of patients will develop BM throughout their disease. Additionally, due to the improved use of advanced imaging techniques as part of routine initial staging. Another factor to consider is the considerably prolonged survival in patients with lung cancer as a direct result of the medical advances that have improved systemic disease control in the past 2 decades. The development of BM has recognized as one of the most detrimental factors for patient prognosis, with a negative impact on quality of life (QoL), concomitant neurocognitive disorders, and, importantly, a significant decrease in OS. RTOG 0214 shows that In patients with stage III disease without progression of disease after therapy, PCI decreased the rate of BM. NVALT-11/DLCRG-02 Study shows that PCI significantly decreased the proportion of patients who developed symptomatic brain metastases with an increase in low-grade toxicity. In conclusion, PCI improved DFS and decreased the risk of BM in patients with LA-NSCLC.Recent studies suggest NSCLC, including stage IV NSCLC, PCI significantly decreased CBM in addition to increasing progression-free survival and OS. At present, few studies on whether prophylactic radiation therapy can reduce the rate of brain metastasis and OS in stage IV NSCLC. In this randomized controlled study of stage IV NSCLC, we investigated whether PCI reduces the chance of brain metastases and whether it has a survival benefit.