[Therapeutic results in small-cell bronchial carcinoma after ACO II chemotherapy and adjuvant radiation]

During the period from 1980 through 1984, 67 patients suffering from small-cell bronchial carcinomas were submitted to a complete ACO II treatment scheme combined with adjuvant irradiation. The complete remission rate was 12%, the partial remission rate 74%. Half of the patients with limited disease survived 12.3 months or more. The median survival time of patients with extensive disease was eight months. An irradiation of the tumor core had been found useful in cases where remote hematogenous metastases could not be demonstrated. It was shown that a prophylactic skull irradiation after the second chemotherapy series was applied too early, because persisting primary tumor residues formed late intracerebral metastases.