title: Two radiation regimens and prognostic factors for brain metastases in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases usually receive whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT). Most of these patients survive for only a few months. A short course of WBRT would be preferable to longer regimens if it could provide similar survival. This retrospective study of NSCLC patients compared longer treatment programs with short-course WBRT with 5 x 4 Gy given during 5 days.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 404 NSCLC patients treated with WBRT for brain metastases were retrospectively analyzed. The 140 patients who received 5 x 4 Gy given in 5 days were compared for survival with 264 patients who received either 10 x 3 Gy given in 2 weeks or 20 x 2 Gy given in 4 weeks. Seven further potential prognostic factors were investigated for survival including age, sex, Karnofsky performance score (KPS), number of brain metastases, extracranial metastases, interval from tumor diagnosis to WBRT, and RPA (recursive partitioning analysis) class.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The WBRT regimen was not associated with survival (P = .55). On multivariate analysis, age < 60 years (vs > or =60 years, P = .020), KPS > or =70 (vs KPS < 70, P < .001), interval from tumor diagnosis to WBRT > 12 months (vs < or =12 months, P = .007), no extracranial metastases (P < .001), and RPA class 1 (vs RPA class 2 vs RPA class 3, P = .007) were significantly associated with improved survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Short-course WBRT with 5 x 4 Gy appeared preferable for most NSCLC patients, as it was associated with survival similar to longer WBRT programs, and the short course was less time consuming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Germany. rades.dirk@gmx.net
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rades
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schild
authors.forename: Radka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lohynska
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Veninga
authors.forename: Lukas J A
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Stalpers
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunst
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome