Literature Search Strategy
MEDLINE (1966 through July 2005), EMBASE (1980 through July 2005), CANCERLIT (1975 through March 2002), and the Cochrane Library (2005, Issue 4) databases were searched for evidence relevant to this practice guideline report. "Carcinoma, non-small-cell lung" (Medical subject heading (MeSH)), "Lung Neoplasms" (MeSH), and the phrase "non small cell lung" used as a text word were combined with "brachytherapy" (MeSH), "radiotherapy dosage" (MeSH) and each of the following phrases used as text words: "brachytherapy," "interstitial radiotherapy," "seed implant," "high dose," or "HDR". As the expectation was that the literature would be limited for this topic, the initial search did not include restrictions on study design. However, subsequent searches included the search terms for the following study designs and publication types: practice guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews, randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, clinical trials, comparative studies, follow-up studies, prospective studies, and retrospective studies.
In addition, conference proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (1995-2005) and the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) (2000-2005) were searched for abstracts of relevant trials. The Canadian Medical Association Infobase (http://mdm.ca/cpgsnew/cpgs/index.asp) and the Web site of the National Guideline Clearinghouse (http://www.guideline.gov) were also searched for existing evidence-based practice guidelines.
Relevant articles and abstracts were selected and reviewed by three reviewers, and the reference lists from those sources were searched for additional trials, as were the reference lists from relevant review articles.
Inclusion Criteria
Articles were selected for inclusion in this systematic review of the evidence if:
- They were fully published reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-controlled prospective studies, or large retrospective studies involving more than 100 patients.
- The treatment was of symptomatic endobronchial disease in primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
- At least one group in the study received high dose rate endobronchial brachytherapy (HDREB), either alone or in combination with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), laser therapy, or photodynamic therapy (PDT).
- The reported outcomes included symptom control, response, survival, or toxicity.
Exclusion Criteria
Articles were excluded if they were:
- Published in a language other than English
- Published in abstract form only
- Letters, comments, or editorials
- Case studies