Small cell lung cancer

It can be stated that, depending on the type of lung cancer, the best opportunity for curative treatment is in the early stage of disease, when cancer is limited to the lung and surgical intervention can be indicated. Especially in the case of SCLC, the number of patients presenting with such a limited disease is very low. In SCLC, chemo- and/or radiotherapy can induce initial good responses, which, although not curative in most cases, can elongate life for an average of 10 months. Although changes and refinements in treatment are continuously introduced, further progresses in the outcome have not achieved for the last decennium. Therefore, more fundamental research is needed to indicate new treatment avenues. A number of findings appear promising in this field. Firstly, the development of tissue culture techniques has enabled a better study of the biological properties of both SCLC and non-SCLC. Secondly, the development of monoclonal antibodies has refined the possibilities to type lung cancer. Particularly if monoclonal antibodies could be identified which occurrence turns out to be relevant to prognosis, immunohistopathology could become an important additional tool for the assessment of a pathological diagnosis in lung cancer. In addition, monoclonal antibodies which are specific for lung cancer could be used for an immunotherapeutical approach in the near future. Such a treatment might complement currently available treatment modalities.