CHARACTERISTICS, TREATMENT PATTERNS AND OUTCOMES OF PATIENTS WITH SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER – A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

PURPOSE: The aim of this retrospective study is to present data of patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and treatment results in an unselected patient population with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in limited disease (LD) and extensive disease stage (ED).

MATERIAL AND METHODS:  All patients of carcinoma lung from April 2007 to December 2009 were analyzed for present study, conducted in department of radiotherapy, PGIMS Rohtak, Haryana.  Total diagnosed lung cancer patients found were 531, out of which 41 patients were having   small cell lung cancer (SCLC). These patients have been analyzed with respect to patient characteristics, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and treatment outcome.

RESULTS: Twelve (29.27%) of all patients had LD SCLC. Mean age of patient was 58.9 years. Two (5.55%) patient had complete response (CR). Rest 32 (77.77%) patients had partial response. Seven (16.66%) patients did not turn up after treatment.  Consecutive thoracic palliative radiotherapy was given in 22 (53.65%) patients. Additional prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) was administered to two patients.  Sixteen patients (39.02%) received CT with Carboplatin and Etoposide and three (7.32%) patients received oral Etoposide. Mean survival was 3.53 months. ED SCLC was diagnosed in rest 29 (70.73%) of cases.  Main metastatic sites were liver 11 (26.82%), bone 6 (14.63%), paraaortic lymph nodes 1 (2.43%) and adrenal in 1 (2.43%) patient. For bone metastasis three patients received palliative RT. Stable disease and progressive disease were the result of first line chemotherapy in both groups. Maximum follow up of patients was up to 15 months.

CONCLUSION: Combined modality treatment with chemotherapy and thoracic radiation therapy is the standard treatment for patients with small cell lung cancer. This is a comprehensive retrospective analysis of SCLC patient population with respect to their demographic characteristics, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, treatment outcome, and survival. Age and gender reached no statistical significance