Fast and Furious: New Data Examining Accelerated Radiation Therapy for Limited-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Outcomes for limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) have remained largely unchanged over the last several decades.1 Although early results with the addition of immunotherapy are promising, and ongoing trials (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03811002, NCT02046733, and NCT03703297) are exploring the addition of antiprogrammed death 1 and programmed death ligand 1 agents, the optimal dose and fractionation for the thoracic radiation therapy (TRT) component remain unknown. Historically, because of the rapid doubling time of SCLC and concerns over the potential for accelerated repopulation, accelerated treatments have been commonly used, often constraining the total dose to lower than that for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) towing to the assumed relative radiosensitivity of SCLC.