Controversies and progresses in prophylactic cranial irradiation for small cell lung cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a kind of highly invasive malignant neoplasm, which is characterized by short survival and high-risk cranial metastasis. Therefore, application of prophylactic cranial irradiation(PCI) is of clinical significance to reduce the incidence of brain metastasis and prolong the patients' survival on the basis of radio-and chemo-therapy. Nevertheless, the indications and clinical value of PCI have been controversial in recent years. These controversies mainly include the significance of PCI for extensive-stage SCLC,the indications of PCI for limited-stage SCLC and the alternative approaches for PCI. In this paper, the controversies and progresses of PCI applied in clinical practice are investigated and reviewed.