Szczesny Tomasz J, Szczesna Aleksandra, Shepherd Frances A, Ginsberg Robert J
Department of Surgery, National Research Institute of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis, Warsaw, Poland.
Semin Oncol. 2003 Feb;30(1):47-56. doi: 10.1053/sonc.2003.50016.
Chemoradiotherapy remains a gold standard in the treatment of limited-disease small cell lung cancer. Currently, three indications for the surgical treatment of very limited disease (stage I, II, or highly selected IIIa) small cell lung cancer can be identified: (1) primary surgery in peripheral clinical N0 lesions followed by adjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy; (2) primary chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery +/- radiotherapy in patients with a good response to initial treatment; and (3) salvage operations in patients who recur or persist at the primary site but still have resectable disease. The value of these approaches has been assessed in retrospective analyses and prospective nonrandomized trials. A large prospective randomized trial failed to prove any added value for surgery in the multidisciplinary treatment of limited-disease small cell lung cancer, but very few very-limited-disease patients were included.
