Treatment of small-cell carcinoma of bronchus.

A randomised trial comparing radiotherapy with a multiple chemotherapy regimen in 68 patients with small cell carcinoma of bronchus is reported. Although overall survival was poor, radiotherapy resulted in significantly longer survival, better amelioration of symptoms, and less side-effects than chemotherapy. Patients achieving complete or partial remission on radiotherapy relapsed mainly with extrathoracic disease, in contradistinction to those treated with chemotherapy whose thoracic disease recurred.