Abstract
Approximately 10% of the patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) present with brain metastases at the time of diagnosis [1] and another 40% develop symptomatic CNS involvement during or after treatment [2]. At autopsy approximately 50% will have brain metastases [3], and the cumulative risk of developing brain metastases at two years’ survival is 50%–80% [2, 4]. The prognosis after a cerebral relapse is poor, with a median survival below three months [1, 5], whereas the isolated prognostic impact of CNS involvement at initial diagnosis is minimal [6]. A small fraction of patients will benefit from radiotherapy or chemotherapy and become long-term survivors despite their CNS involvement [7].
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nugent JL, Bunn PA, Matthews MJ et al. CNS metastases in small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma. Increasing frequency and changing pattern with lengthening survival. Cancer 1979; 44: 1885–93.
Bunn PA, Nugent JL, Matthews MJ. Central nervous system metastases in small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma. Semin Oncol 1978; 5: 314–22.
Hirsch FR, Paulson OB, Hansen HH, Vraa-Jensen J. Intracranial metastases in small-cell carcinoma of the lung. Correlation of clinical and autopsy findings. Cancer 1982; 50: 2433–7.
Pedersen AG. Diagnostic procedures in the detection of CNS metastases from small-cell lung cancer. In Hansen HH (ed): Lung Cancer: Basic and Clinical Aspects. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff 1986; 153–82.
Carmichael J, Crane JM, Bunn PA et al. Results of therapeutic cranial irradiation in small-cell lung cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol BiolPhys 1988; 14: 455–9.
Østerlind K. Prognostic factors in small-cell lung cancer: An analysis of 874 consecutive patients. In Hansen H (ed): Lung Cancer: Basic and Clinical Aspects. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff 1986; 129–52.
Giannone L, Johnson DH, Hande KR, Greco FA. Favorable prognosis of brain metastases in small-cell lung cancer. Ann Intern Med 1987; 106: 386–9.
Sculier JP, Feld R, Evans WK et al. Neurologic disorders in patients with small-cell lung cancer. Cancer 1987; 60: 2275–83.
Lucas CF, Robinson B, Hoskin PJ et al. Morbidity of cranial relapse in small-cell lung cancer and the impact of radiation therapy. Cancer Treat Rep 1986; 70: 565–70.
Johnson BE, Becker B, Goff WB et al. Neurologic, neuropsychologic, and computed cranial tomography scan abnormalities in 2-to 10-year survivors of small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 1985; 3: 1659–67.
Bauer J, Kuntzer T, Leyvraz S. Paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes. Ann Oncol 1995; 6: 291–6.
DeAngelis LM. Management of brain metastases. Cancer Invest 1994; 12: 156–65.
Di Chiro G. Positron emission tomography using 18-F Fluorodeoxyglucose in brain tumors. A powerful diagnostic and prognostic tool. Invest Radiol 1986; 22: 360–71.
Grifeth LK, Rich KM, Dehdashti F et al. Brain metastases from non-central-nervous system tumors: Evaluation with PET. Radiology 1993; 186: 37–44.
Dearing MP, Steinberg SM, Phelps R et al. Outcome of patients with small-cell lung cancer: Effect of changes in staging procedures and imaging technology on prognostic factors over 14 years. J Clin Oncol 1990; 8: 1042–9.
Kristensen CA, Kristjansen PEG, Hansen HH. Systemic chemotherapy of brain metastases from small-cell lung cancer: A review. J Clin Oncol 1992; 10: 1498–502.
Jarden JO, Dhawan V, Poltorak A et al. Positron emission tomographic measurement of blood-to-brain and blood-to-tumor transport of 81-Rb: The effect of dexamethasone and whole-brain radiation therapy. Ann Neurol 1985; 18:636–46.
Greig NH. Chemotherapy of brain metastases: Current status. Cancer Treat Rev 1984; 11: 157–86.
Donelli MG, Zucchetti M, D’Incalci M. Do anticancer agents reach the tumor target in the human brain? Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 1992; 30: 251–60.
van Hazel GA, Scott M, Eagan RT. The effect of CNS metastases of the survival of patients with small-cell cancer of the lung. Cancer 1983; 51: 933–7.
Black PM. Brain tumors (first of two parts). N Engl J Med 1991; 324: 1471–6.
Kristjansen PEG. Prophylactic cranial irradiation. In Johnson BE, Johnson DH (eds): Lung Cancer. New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc. 1995; 303–18.
Amagada R, Le Chevalier T, Borie F et al. Prophylactic cranial irradiation for patients with small-cell lung cancer in complete remission. J Natl Cancer Inst 1995; 87: 183–90.
Bunn PA, Kelly K. Prophylactic cranial irradiation for patients with small-cell lung cancer (Editorial). J Natl Cancer Inst 1995; 87: 161–2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lassen, U., Kristjansen, P.E.G., Hansen, H.H. (1997). Brain metastases in small-cell lung cancer. In: Souhami, R.L. (eds) The Teaching Cases from Annals of Oncology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5456-7_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5456-7_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-4117-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5456-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive