title: Feasibility of tomotherapy-based image-guided radiotherapy for small cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the tolerance of patients with small cell lung cancer undergoing chemoradiation with tomotherapy-based image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of the toxicity profile for nine patients with small cell lung cancer of the limited stage who underwent chemoradiation delivered with helical tomotherapy (HT) has been conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Acute grade 3-4 hematologic and esophagitis toxicities developed in two and three patients respectively. One patient developed a pulmonary embolism during radiotherapy. Seven patients had weight loss ranging from 0 to 30 pounds (median: 4 pounds). Three patients had treatment breaks ranging from 2 to 12 days. At a median follow-up of 11 months (range: 2-24 months), no patients developed any radiation related toxicities such as grade 3-4 pneumonitis or other long-term complications. The median survival was estimated to be 15 months. There were two local recurrences, three mediastinal recurrences, and six distant metastases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Grade 3-4 toxicities remained significant during chemoradiation when radiation was delivered with tomotherapy-based IGRT. However, the absence of grade 3-4 pneumonitis is promising and the use of HT needs to be investigated in future prospective studies.
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ , USA.
authors: Nam P
authors: NP
authors: Nguyen
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Shen
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Kratz
authors: Jacqueline
authors: J
authors: Vock
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Vos
authors: Vinh-Hung
authors: VH
authors: Vincent
authors: Gabor
authors: G
authors: Altdorfer
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Ewell
authors: Siyoung
authors: S
authors: Jang
authors: Ulf
authors: U
authors: Karlsson
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Godinez
authors: Melissa
authors: M
authors: Mills
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Sroka
authors: Suresh
authors: S
authors: Dutta
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Chi
keywords: IGRT; chemoradiation; limited stage; small cell lung cancer