Selecting Patients with Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer for Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation by Predicting Brain Metastases

INTRODUCTION: Prophylactic cranial irradiation has recently been reported to improve overall survival and quality of life in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. The generalizability of this treatment to an unselected population with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer is not clear, as the incidence of brain metastases is variably reported in the literature, ranging from 25 to 60%. METHODS: We completed a retrospective …