Initial report on the effectiveness of high dose rate brachytherapy in the treatment of hemoptysis in lung cancer

Fourteen patients with advanced and recurrent lung cancers following a radical course of external beam radiotherapy three to 18 months (mean, ten months) previously were treated with a single fraction of high dose rate intraluminal brachytherapy of 10 Gy for severe uncontrolled hemoptysis. Following treatment, hemoptysis decreased within ten to 24 hours (mean, 15.3 hours) and stopped completely within 72 hours in 13 patients. Twelve of these 14 patients had no further recurrence of hemoptysis three to nine months following treatment. One patient whose hemoptysis decreased initially died three months later of massive uncontrolled hemoptysis. This hemoptysis was not controlled with a second fraction of 10 Gy. The other patient had recurrent hemoptysis two months after the first brachytherapy treatment. This was treated with a further 10 Gy following which the hemoptysis stopped, and the patient is alive two months after the second treatment. High dose rate intraluminal brachytherapy is effective for the treatment of uncontrolled hemoptysis from recurrent or residual tumor following a course of radical external beam radiotherapy.