Lung cancer : journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer
-
Comparative Study
Comparison of response evaluation in small cell lung cancer using computerized tomography and chest radiography.
The percentage of patients achieving a complete response (CR) to therapy is often used as a measure of treatment efficacy in SCLC. Chest radiographs are difficult to evaluate following therapy and differences in reported response rates may be due to interobserver variation. CT scans of the thorax are more costly and are not as easily obtained as routine studies. ⋯ For example, in one case, 87% of readers judged response to therapy as a CR based on chest radiograph; upon reevaluation with a CT scan this figure decreased to 15%. Agreement as to response was better on review of the CT scans, compared to the chest radiograph in all but two cases. It is therefore recommended that pre- and post-treatment CT scans, and not just chest radiographs, be used for assessment of response to therapy.