Abstract:Objective To analyze the effects of prophylactic cranial irradiation on brain metastasis rate and survival rate in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer on alternate chemoradiotherapy after complete remission (CR) at different interventional time. Methods A retrospective analysis of 90 patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer in our hospital, they were divided into the short-period group (51 cases) and long-period group (39 cases). 90 cases were given radiotherapy, Etoposide + Cisplatin chemotherapy for 2 cycles; the prophylactic cranial irradiation was given after 2 cycles of Etoposide + Cisplatin chemotherapy in the short-period group, while the prophylactic cranial irradiation therapy was given after 4 cycles of Etoposide + Cisplatin chemotherapy in the long-period group. The brain metastasis rate and survival rate were compared between the two groups. Results The brain metastasis rate in short-period group within 3 years was 23.53% (12/51) and 20.51% (8/39) in the long-period group; the brain metastasis rate in 3 years showed no significantly difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The overall survival rates after 1, 2, 3 years in the short-period group were 82.35%, 39.22% and 21.57% and the median survival time was 15 months; the overall survival rates of 1, 2, 3 years in the long-period group were 76.92%, 43.59% and 23.08% and the median survival time was 18 months. The overall survival rates after 1, 2, 3 years showed no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The local progression free survival rates after 1, 2, 3 years in the short-period group were 54.90%, 19.61% and 15.69%, and 66.67%, 23.08% and 12.82% in the long-period group. The median progression free survival time of the two groups was 16 months. The local progression free survival after 1, 2, 3 years showed no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The incidence rate of adverse reactions, tumor recurrence and metastasis showed no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion The different intervention times of prophylactic cranial irradiation of alternate chemoradiotherapy after CR in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer are close to the brain metastasis rate and survival rate, which isn’t significant difference.