The two-agent chemotherapy regimen of etoposide + platinum has always been the standard treatment modality for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) during the past 30 years. However, the application of radiotherapy in ES-SCLC has not been clarified. Immunotherapy has made significant breakthroughs in ES-SCLC in recent years. Currently, the regimen of immunotherapy combined with basic chemotherapy has become the standard of care for ES-SCLC. As more and more evidence suggests that there is a non-negligible synergistic anti-tumour effect between radiotherapy and immunotherapy, the application value of radiotherapy in ES-SCLC has been reintroduced in the era of immunotherapy. At present, early clinical studies of thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) and brain radiotherapy (BRT) combined with immunotherapy have been initially explored in this regard, and the introduction of low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT) in ES-SCLC has also proposed a new direction of exploration. In this article, the progress in the application of radiotherapy in ES-SCLC was reviewed.

Radiotherapy; Immunotherapy; Small cell lung carcinoma; Research progress