The discussion of treatment result for 65 patients with brain metastases from lung cancer

Objective:To investigate the treatment result for lung cancer with brain metastases.Methods:65 patients with brain metastases from lung cancer were given radiotherapy alone or surgery followed by radiotherapy from March,1990 to March,1995.Radiotherapy(whole brain irradiation) were divided into two groups:The conventional fraction radiotherapy given with the dose of 22～40Gy in 2.2～4 weeks (whole brain irradiation) then followed with 15～20Gy in 1.5～2 weeks booster;The accelerated radiatherapy was given with the dose of 18～24Gy in 1.1～1.5 weeks (whole brain irradiation) then followed with 15～20Gy in 1.5～2 weeks booster. Results:The median survival period and one year survival rate were 9.5 months and 62.3% in srugery plus radiotherapy group and 5.5 months and 14.5% in radiotherapy alone group( P 0.05).The accelerated radiotherapy of whole brain irradiation could alleviate the patient′s symptom quickly,but couldn′t improve the survival rates.Conclusions:Combined therapy of surgery plus radiotherapy is better than radiotherapy alone for brain metastasis from lung cancer.