The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 30, 602-610, Copyright © 1980 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Small cell carcinoma of the lung
JA Meyer and FB Parker Jr
Prospects for the patient with small cell carcinoma of the lung have been
partially turned around during the past decade. This dramatic achievement
remains very incomplete, but it continues to gather momentum and seems to
carry promise of greater advance in the future. An essential feature of the
new approach to treatment is that it depends on cooperative and
interdisciplinary effort; in all probability, increasing cooperation will
be necessary for future progress. We will attempt to review here the
current approaches to the understanding and management of this disease, as
they may be of concern to surgeons, and to try to define the areas of
failure and controversy.