Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the efficacy of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the most recent published data and to identify subgroups who may be more likely to gain benefit from PCI.Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases for randomized trials comparing PCI with non-PCI in NSCLC patients. We pooled the data of randomized controlled trials and compared brain metastasis (BM) and overall survival (OS) between PCI group and non-PCI group.Results: Seven studies including 1,462 patients were eligible for the current meta-analysis. Compared to non-PCI group, PCI group achieved decreased BM (RR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.26–0.52) but similar OS (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.87–1.22). In subgroup analyses of BM, PCI decreased BM for subgroups by pathology (squamous cell carcinoma or non-squamous cell carcinoma) and local treatment modality (surgery or no surgery). However, PCI failed to reduce BM for patients with poor performance status (WHO 2–3). The incidence of PCI related toxicities was low and PCI was well-tolerated by the majority of NSCLC. Low grade neurocognitive function (NCF) decline was reported in NAVLT study and greater deterioration in immediate and delayed recall was reported in RTOG 0214. No significant difference in quality of life (QOL) after PCI was reported.Conclusion: PCI reduces the incidence of BM except for patients with poor performance status. However, PCI fails to prolong OS significantly for NSCLC. An individual patient data meta-analysis may identify patients that could achieve OS prolongation with PCI.
Highlights
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ∼85% of lung cancer cases [1]
After reading the full text, one randomized trial [12] was excluded due to heterogeneous local treatment between the two arms
The results confirmed the efficacy of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in terms of brain metastases (BM) incidence reduction (RR = 0.37, P < 0.001) without a corresponding overall survival (OS) benefit for NSCLC (HR = 1.01, P = 0.74)
Summary
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ∼85% of lung cancer cases [1]. NSCLC has a propensity to metastasize to the brain. The incidence of brain metastases (BM) in NSCLC is ∼20–40% at some point during their disease course, and the brain is the first site of failure in 15–40% of cases [2, 3]. PCI for NSCLC have a higher propensity for BM. There have been advances in the treatment and management of brain metastases for NSCLC, the prognosis is still poor with a median survival time of
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