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Role of Thoracic Radiation Therapy in Extensive Disease Small Cell Lung Cancer

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Advances in Radiation Oncology in Lung Cancer

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Radiat Oncol))

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Abstract

Of all patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), approximately two-thirds have extensive disease (ED SCLC) which represents the disease that spreads beyond confines of the thorax (M1), but includes as well patients whose disease has traditionally been described as “too large to be encompassed with a tolerable radiation port.” Over the past several decades, chemotherapy (CHT) has been considered standard treatment option and only recently immunotherapy was introduced as additional ingredient to the standard treatment option. The vast majority of the data gathered from the past studies, however, is coming from CHT era where patterns of failure after CHT alone revealed substantial percentage failures occurring in the chest. It is, therefore, that curative, high-dose thoracic radiation therapy (TRT) was considered potentially useful tool capable of improving chest disease control and, hence, improved survival. Three important and prospective randomized studies and many retrospective studies showed potential for TRT in this setting, with, sometimes, confusing results. These have largely influenced existing practices and differing recommendations and guidelines worldwide. This chapter summarizes important aspects of TRT in ED SCLC and highlights existing controversies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Branislav Jeremić

  2. Department of Clinical Oncology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed El-Bassiouny, Ramy Ghali & Sherif Abdel-Wahab

  3. Department of Clinical Oncology, Caucasus Medical Center, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Ivane Kiladze

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  1. Branislav Jeremić
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  2. Mohamed El-Bassiouny
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  3. Ramy Ghali
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  4. Ivane Kiladze
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  5. Sherif Abdel-Wahab
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Correspondence to Branislav Jeremić .

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  1. School of Medicine, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Branislav Jeremić

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Jeremić, B., El-Bassiouny, M., Ghali, R., Kiladze, I., Abdel-Wahab, S. (2021). Role of Thoracic Radiation Therapy in Extensive Disease Small Cell Lung Cancer. In: Jeremić, B. (eds) Advances in Radiation Oncology in Lung Cancer. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2021_279

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2021_279

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-34847-1

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