The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 45, 687-692, Copyright © 1988 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Surgery in small cell lung cancer
BL Graham Jr, L Balducci, T Khansur, ML Dalton and B Lambuth
Division of Medical Oncology and Thoracic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson.
Surgery in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was abandoned in the late 1960s
but is currently being cautiously reassessed, after the Armed Forces
Asymptomatic Pulmonary Nodule Study demonstrated an unexpectedly prolonged
5-year survival (36%) with surgery. Subsequent prospective studies have
reported five-year survival following resection in 22 to 83% of patients
with Stage I disease and in 0 to 50% of patients with Stages II and III
disease. Ten percent of patients with SCLC may be amenable to this
approach. Additional patients may become candidates for resection following
intensive combination chemotherapy. The optimal postoperative management
remains unsettled. Combination chemotherapy and prophylactic cranial
irradiation is recommended following complete resection. Postoperative
thoracic irradiation may benefit patients with pathologically involved
mediastinal nodes. Correlation of clinical response with our new
understanding of the molecular biology of SCLC may further improve our
approach to this disease.