Thoracic reirradiation for lung cancer: a literature review and practical guide

Lung cancer (LC) remains the most common cancer, with approximately 1.8 million cases diagnosed in 2012 worldwide (1). Due to earlier detection, advances in staging, increasing use of combined modality treatment, and advances in radiation therapy (RT), patients with LC are also living longer (2). Unfortunately, approximately 50% will experience locoregional, marginal and/or distant failure post-treatment (3,4). After curative-intent chemoradiotherapy, the five year rate of locoregional recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is 30% (5), and in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), local failure occurs in approximately one-third (6). Recurrent LC often causes significant symptom burden, negatively affecting quality of life and representing the most common cause of death (7-13)