Therapeutic Patterns and Clinical Outcomes in Limited Disease Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Decade of Analysis at a Tertiary Cancer Center

• Published in: Cancers 2024-05, Vol.16 (11), p.1953
• Main Authors: Ziegler, David Alexander, Cleve, Cecilia Christiane, Ziegler, Sonia, Schirmer, Markus Anton, Fischer, Laura Anna, Bohnenberger, Hanibal, Overbeck, Tobias Raphael, Braulke, Friederike, Hammerstein-Equord, Alexander von, Leu, Martin, Guhlich, Manuel, Dröge, Leif Hendrik, Rieken, Stefan, Rittmeyer, Achim, El Shafie, Rami A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer; Cancer therapies; Carboplatin; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Cisplatin; Clinical trials; Development and progression; Diseases; Etoposide; Germany; Histology; Lung cancer; Lung cancer, Small cell; Lung diseases; Lymphatic system; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Patient outcomes; Patients; Radiation therapy; Radiotherapy; Regression analysis; Skull; Small cell lung carcinoma; Statistical analysis; Toxicity
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers16111953

In this study, we investigated the outcomes and factors influencing treatment efficacy in 93 patients with limited disease small cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC), with a median age of 64 years. We focused on the impact of chemotherapy regimens, prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI), and patient-related variables. The median follow-up for OS was 17.3 months. We observed a statistically significant difference in PFS between LD-SCLC patients treated with cisplatin and etoposide (EP) and those treated with carboplatin and etoposide (CP) (PFS: EP 13.63 months vs. CP 6.54 months, < 0.01). Patients treated with EP had better overall survival (OS) than CP-treated patients (OS: EP 26.9 months vs. CP 16.16 months, < 0.01). Concomitant chemotherapy was associated with improved PFS ( = 0.003) and OS ( = 0.002). Patients receiving PCI showed superior OS ( = 0.05) and a trend towards improved PFS ( = 0.057). Female gender was associated with better OS ( = 0.025). Most patients had an ECOG performance status of 0 (71%). This real-world study underscores the importance of multidisciplinary LD-SCLC management, emphasizing the roles of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and PCI. These findings inform personalized treatment strategies and emphasize the need for prospective trials to validate these results and optimize LD-SCLC treatment.