Outcomes Seem No Worse With Stereotactic RT for Brain Mets in SCLC

THURSDAY, June 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with intracranial metastatic disease (IMD), outcomes appear to be no worse with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) compared with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), according to research published online May 26 in The Lancet Oncology.

Karolina Gaebe, from the University of Toronto, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of SRS for IMD treatment in patients with SCLC. Thirty-one studies were eligible for inclusion, and seven were included in the meta-analysis.

The researchers found that overall survival was longer following SRS than WBRT with or without SRS boost (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.75 to 0.97) or WBRT alone (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.83), but not compared with WBRT plus SRS boost (hazard ratio, 1.17; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.78 to 1.75). The pooled median overall survival from SRS was 8.99 months using single-arm studies. Considerable between-study heterogeneity was seen when pooled among all comparative studies.

"Our findings suggest no significant disadvantage in outcomes following SRS compared with WBRT in this cohort," the authors write. "Future prospective controlled trials are needed to investigate the impact of IMD burden and differences in intracranial control between WBRT and SRS in this historically excluded population."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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