Factors influencing the distribution of metastases and survival in extensive disease small cell lung cancer

This study was conducted to investigate the distribution of metastatic lesi ons and their influence on survival, as well as other prognostic Factors pr eviously shown to have an impact on the outcome of patients with extensive small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Of the 207 patients were included and retros pectively analyzed; 124 patients had extended disease at initial presentati on and the remaining 83 developed metastatic disease during follow-up. Pati ents who relapsed presented most frequently with distant metastases. The br ain was the most frequent organ targeted for metastatic disease following t he completion of chemotherapy (p < 0.05). Serum LDH levels correlated signi ficantly with the presence of liver metastasis (p < 0.001). The site of inv olvement did not seem to have an impact on survival. Nevertheless, patients with multiple metastatic sites had a significantly poor survival rate (p = 0.001). Weight loss, performance status, gender, clinical stage, serum LDH and albumin levels were all shown to correlate with survival (p < 0.05). R esponse to chemotherapy was determined to be the most important prognostic factor.