[A five-year survivor of small cell lung carcinoma stage IIIB treated with surgical resection and an adjuvant chemoradiotherapy--a case report].

A 56-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with the complaint of cough. She had a rt. supraclavicular lymph node swelling, and her chest X-ray showed masses at the rt. hilum and the mediastinum. On bronchofiberscopy, a tumor was detected at the orifice of the lt. B3b, and the biopsy revealed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). With the peroperative diagnosis of stage IIIB SCLC, a neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgical resection was performed. Because of the presence of malignant cells in the pericardial effusion, the operation turned out to be an absolutely non-curative one. As the recurrence of mediastinal lymph node swelling occurred after the surgery, an intensive chemoradiotherapy was performed successfully. Then the patient has been free from disease for five years. This case indicates the possibility that some of SCLC patients can be long-term survivors by the treatment of an appropriate adjuvant therapy combined with radical resection, even if the clinical stage is advanced. Therefore an extended operative indication for SCLC should be considered.