Clinical value of carcinoembryonic antigen for predicting the incidence of brain metastases and survival in small cell lung cancer patients treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation

摘要

BackgroundAlthough the role of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has been confirmed, the occurrence of brain metastases (BM) in patients remains a major problem. We designed this study to evaluate the clinical value of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for predicting the incidence of BM and survival in SCLC patients who received PCI.