The aim of this study was to evaluate potential predictive factors in the treatment of limited-disease small cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC). A total of 33 patients with LD-SCLC who underwent definitive chemoradiotherapy at our institute between April 1996 and May 2007 were enrolled in our retrospective study. The relationship between a range of potential predictive factors and the initial response, time to progression and pattern of failure was analyzed. The factors evaluated included the tumor markers Pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (Pro-GRP) and neuron-specific enolase; net tumor size (sum of each lesion mass on computed tomography at 1-cm intervals); total radiation dose; biological effective dose (BED); overall treatment time (OTT); time between the start of any type of treatment and the end of radiation therapy (SER). In addition, the novel factors of radiation dose-intensity (RDI = BED/OTT) and RDI/NTS (= RDI/net tumor size) were defined. Of the 33 patients evaluated in our study, 22 (67%) achieved a complete response (CR) and 27 (82%) experienced treatment failure or recurrence. High RDI/NTS values showed a significant correlation with CR (P=0.043). Prolonged OTT and lower values of RDI and RDI/NTS showed a significant correlation with recurrence within 12 months (P=0.022, 0.033 and 0.015, respectively). The lower values of RDI and RDI/NTS showed a significant correlation with distant metastasis as a first failure site (P=0.038 and 0.044, respectively). Patients with RDI/NTS ≥0.08 had a more favorable prognosis (P=0.045). Thus, RDI and RDI/NTS may become beneficial predictive factors in the treatment of LD-SCLC. However, further studies are required to confirm our preliminary results.

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