Radiotherapy for small cell lung cancer
This page tells you about radiotherapy for small cell lung cancer. There is information about
Radiotherapy to the lung
Your doctor may suggest radiotherapy after or alongside chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer to help stop the cancer coming back in the lung. Your doctor will be most likely to suggest this treatment if your cancer has shrunk a lot or disappeared after your chemotherapy. You have this type of radiotherapy over a period of about 3 weeks.
Radiotherapy to the brain
Your doctor may suggest you have radiotherapy to the head because small cell lung cancer can spread to the brain. Giving radiotherapy makes it much less likely that this will happen. You may hear your doctor talk about prophylactic cranial radiotherapy or PCI. You have this treatment over 2 to 3 weeks and side effects include tiredness, headaches and feeling or being sick.
Radiotherapy to relieve symptoms
Your doctor might use radiotherapy to help control symptoms. For example, you might have radiotherapy to your chest to help control pain, breathlessness or cough. Or you may have radiotherapy to a bone that is causing pain because the cancer has spread there.
You might also have radiotherapy to treat symptoms of lung cancer that has spread to the brain. Brain secondaries are also called cerebral metastases.
Your doctor may suggest radiotherapy after or alongside chemotherapy for early stage small cell lung cancer to help stop the cancer coming back in the lung. Radiotherapy after chemotherapy is called adjuvant radiotherapy. Your doctor will be most likely to suggest this treatment if your cancer has shrunk a lot or disappeared after your chemotherapy.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy given together are called chemoradiation.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment can get rid of small cell lung cancer completely for some people, so that there is no sign of your cancer on scans or when you are examined. This is called a 'complete response'. But sometimes the cancer can come back after treatment, so you will have regular check-ups.
You may have the radiotherapy treatment to the chest over about 3 or more weeks (once or twice each week day). Some people also have radiotherapy to the head (brain) to reduce the chance of the cancer spreading to the brain.
Your doctor may suggest that you have radiotherapy to the head because small cell lung cancer can spread to the brain. Trials have shown that giving radiotherapy to the brain over 2 to 3 weeks makes it much less likely that this will happen. The radiotherapy can also help some people to live longer. This type of radiotherapy is called PCI or prophylactic cranial radiotherapy. The treatment can cause short term side effects that include tiredness, headaches and feeling or being sick for a few weeks. Your doctor can give medicines to reduce these effects. If you are very tired you may need to rest a lot and have help and support from your family or friends.
Radiotherapy works very well for small cell lung cancer. So, as well as using it with chemotherapy to try to cure the cancer, your doctor might use additional radiotherapy to help control symptoms. For example, you might have radiotherapy to your chest to help control pain, breathlessness or a cough. Or you may have radiotherapy to a bone that is causing pain because the cancer has spread there.
You might also have radiotherapy to treat symptoms of lung cancer that has spread to the brain (brain secondaries). Brain secondaries are also called cerebral metastases. There is detailed information about controlling symptoms of lung cancer and treating secondary brain tumours in the section about treatment for advanced lung cancer in CancerHelp UK.
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