What is your treatment approach in a patient with small cell lung cancer and a pericardial effusion?
In a patient with newly diagnosed small cell lung cancer with disease limited only to the thorax would you treat with definitive chemoRT in the presence of a pericardial effusion? Would patient age or KPS factor into your decision process?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
KPS should be factored into all clinical decisions regarding patients with small cell lung cancer, regardless of stage. Age should be considered, but is not a contraindication to curative treatment in itself.The staging of SCLC is inherently subjective - "limited to the ipsilateral thorax and region...