A nomogram to predict the overall survival of patients with symptomatic extensive-stage small cell lung cancer treated with thoracic radiotherapy

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) makes up 13% of lung malignancies. Only one-third of SCLC patients received their diagnosis at the limited stage. Treatment for symptomatic extensive-stage (ES) SCLC with persistent intrathoracic disease is still controversial. The present research aimed to analyze the impact of palliative thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) as a treatment for this patient group and build a prognostic nomogram. Methods: In this retrospective, multi-center study, we analyzed 120 patients with ES-SCLC and a World Health Organization performance status of 1–2 who were diagnosed between March 2014 and September 2019. A nomogram was formulated to predict the patients’ 1- and 2-year overall survival (OS). Results: The study cohort had a median age of 62 years, and males accounted for 85% of enrollees. A significant extension was observed in the median OS in the TRT group compared to the no TRT group (P