Two Schedules of Hyperfractionated Thoracic Radiotherapy in Limited Disease Small Cell Lung Cancer

progression free survival (PFS)

measured for all patients from the date of the first day of the first course of PE to the first date of objective progression (according to RECIST 1.1) of disease or of death from any cause. For each patient who has not died or has non-progression at the cut-off date for the analysis, PFS will be censored at the date of the patient's last tumor assessment prior to the cut-off date. Statistical survival analyses will be done with Kaplan Meier. Log rank test will be used for comparing groups.

Time frame: 2 years

Local control

Proportion of all patients who experience disease recurrence within radiotherapy fields assessed by comparing dose plans and follow-up CT scans.

Time frame: 2 years

overall survival

measured for all patients from the date of the first day of the first course of chemotherapy until the date of death from any cause (or last contact/observation if lost to follow-up - or the follow-up is completed before all patients die).

Time frame: 3 years

toxicity

assessed for all patients receiving at least one course of chemotherapy from reported blood values and adverse event. Classified and graded according to CTCAE 4.0. Compared using Pearson's Chi-square and Fischer's exact tests.

Time frame: 2 years

health related quality of life (HRQoL)

assessed from completed questionnaires. Patients will report HRQoL on the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ) C30 and the lung cancer specific module LC13. The QLQ-C30 measures fundamental aspects of HRQoL and symptoms commonly reported by cancer patients in general, the LC13 measures symptoms commonly associated with lung cancer and its treatment. All HRQoL scores will be transformed to a scale from 0 to 100 according to the EORTC scoring manual. A difference in mean scores of \>10 is considered clinically relevant. For group comparisons of baseline scores during and after chemotherapy, and changes in scores from baseline, the Mann-Whitney test will be used. Primary HRQoL-endpoints are dysphagia and dyspnea.

Time frame: From baseline, before and after radiotherapy and then at follow-up every 3 months until 24 months after start of chemotherapy. Then every 6 months until 5 year after start of therapy