{
  "abstract": "Background Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease presenting with limited stage (LS) in approximately 25% of cases. Objectives This study characterized the routine management of LS-SCLC as a benchmark for the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Design A retrospective real-world cohort study of 533 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed LS-SCLC treated at the Thoraxklinik between 01/2010-12/2019. Methods Clinical characteristics were extracted from the patients’ records with reassessment of tumor response and progression according to RECIST v1.1 by the investigators. Results Of 533 patients, 418 (78.4%) received curative-intent treatment: definitive chemoradiation (CRT) in 392 patients (73.5%; sequential CRT in 303/392 [77.3%] and concurrent CRT in 89/392 [22.7%]), or surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (n=16, 3.0%) or CRT (n=10, 1.9%). The remaining could receive only single-modality or no therapy with poor median overall survival (mOS) <6 months. Concurrent ( vs. sequential) CRT was associated with longer mOS (28.5 vs. 19.1 months, 34.7% vs. 16.3% at 5 years, p<0.001), which remained significant in multivariable testing (hazard ratio [HR] 0.75, p<0.05). Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) was also associated with longer mOS (23.1 vs. 13.0 months, p<0.001, HR 0.59) and lower risk of intracranial relapse by 61% (p=0.003). The eligibility rate for durvalumab consolidation after concurrent CRT was 87.6% (95% confidence interval 79.0-93.7%), and after any CRT 69.4% (64.6-73.9%), which corresponded to 52.7% (48.3-57.0%) of all LS-SCLC patients. Main ICI contraindication was grade 2+ pneumonitis, which occurred in 10.8% at the end of RT and was more frequent after sequential compared to concurrent treatment (p=0.001). Conclusion Definitive treatment was feasible for approximately 78% of LS-SCLC patients, while approximately 50% are estimated to be eligible for durvalumab post-CRT. Concurrent treatment and administration of PCI were independently associated with better outcomes, but the median OS <2 years in this real-world population underlines the urgent need for novel therapeutic options.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 19,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Shuo Shi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Teresa Romero Cruz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Florian Stritzke"
    },
    {
      "name": "Romina Maria Rösch"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marlene Luther-Lütkehus"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anna Hofmann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Benedikt Niedermaier"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael Allgäuer"
    },
    {
      "name": "Farastuk Bozorgmehr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rajiv Shah"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jonas Kuon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Held"
    },
    {
      "name": "Fabian Weykamp"
    },
    {
      "name": "Albrecht Stenzinger"
    },
    {
      "name": "Florian Eichhorn"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laura Klotz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael Thomas"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gerald Schmid-Bindert"
    },
    {
      "name": "Petros Christopoulos"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f62qhpvt9hx8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1177/17588359261500107",
  "fulltext_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/17588359261500107",
  "id": "0f62qhpvt9hx8",
  "issns": [
    "1758-8359",
    "1758-8340"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/17588359261500107",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "RC254-282"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2730|Lung Cancer Research Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223474155",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-24",
  "publisher": "SAGE Publishing",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f62qhpvt9hx8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:44:44Z",
      "native_id": "4a66ea3224a84374aed786604f8f9e39",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/17588359261500107"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2730|Lung Cancer Research Studies",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Feasibility of consolidative immunotherapy and outcomes of chemoradiation for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer in the real world",
  "title_text": "Feasibility of consolidative immunotherapy and outcomes of chemoradiation for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer in the real world",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T13:44:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f62qhpvt9hx8",
  "venue": "Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology",
  "versions": []
}