Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation

Prophylactic cranial irradiation, often abbreviated PCI, is a radiation treatment given to reduce the chance that cancer will spread to the brain in highly aggressive cancers prone to doing so, most notably small cell lung cancer. Unlike ordinary radiation therapy, which targets a tumor already known to be present in the brain, PCI is given preemptively to patients who show no sign of a brain tumor but who are considered likely to be harboring undetectable, microscopic disease that could eventually grow there. In patients with limited-stage, and some cases of extensive-stage, small cell lung cancer who have achieved complete remission, PCI has been shown to reduce the recurrence of brain metastases and to improve overall survival.