Review of Management of Clinical Stage I Small Cell Lung Cancer: The Rising Role of Surgical Resection

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive malignancy that has traditionally been treated as a systemic disease, with surgery largely excluded from standard management. A small subset of patients, however, present with clinical Stage I disease (T1-2N0M0). With improvements in imaging, staging, and systemic therapy, local therapy warrants consideration. Methods: We performed a narrative review of the literature focused on clinical Stage I SCLC, prioritizing studies addressing epidemiology, tumor biology, diagnostic workup, staging, treatment approaches, and surveillance. Emphasis was placed on current guideline recommendations and contemporary retrospective data relevant to surgical and non-surgical local therapies. Results: Clinical Stage I SCLC is rare and is frequently upstaged with complete diagnostic evaluation, highlighting the need for thorough staging and pathologic confirmation of node-negative disease when surgery is considered. Even in presumed local disease, distant metastases are many times evident with a proper staging workup. Retrospective analyses suggest potential for long-term control of disease in carefully selected Stage I patients treated with surgical resection, particularly lobectomy, as part of multimodality therapy that includes adjuvant systemic therapy. For patients who are not surgical candidates, stereotactic body radiation therapy combined with systemic therapy is a reasonable alternative. The role of prophylactic cranial irradiation and optimal surveillance strategies in Stage I disease remain areas of uncertainty. Conclusions: Clinical Stage I SCLC affects a small and unique group of patients where traditional treatment strategies may need to be reconsidered. Taken together, retrospective evidence suggests a survival benefit for surgery in carefully selected patients, although prospective validation is lacking. Surgery warrants consideration in appropriately staged, operable patients, while recognizing the limitations of existing data and the need for further study in this rare population.